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ADVENTURES
i) ;
THE ADVENTURES » |
OF
OS Oe ae
OF
SANTILLANE
BY
TOBIAS SMOLLETT
TRANSLATED FROM THE ae LESAGE
| mo
With an Introduction by
WILLIAM MORTON FULLERTON
LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, LIMITED
‘NEW YORK: E. P, DUTTON & CO.
.
. ‘
AEs
/9/F
LIBRARY OF EARLY NOVELISTS.
Edited by E. A. BAKER, M.A,, Litt.D.
Each with an Introduction by the Editor, or other Specialist.
Large cr. 8vo.
Amory: Life and Opinions of
John Buncle, Esquire. Intro-
duction by E, A. Baker, M.A.
Behn, Mrs. Aphra: Novels and
Novelettes. Introduction by
E. A. Baker, M.A. .
Boccaccio : "he Decameron,
Translated | M. Rigg.
With J. A. Symonds’ Essay on
Boccaccio. —
Brooke: The Fool of Quality.
With a new life of the author
by E. A. Baker, M.A,
Chrysal; or, The Adventures of
a Guinea. Introduction by
E. A. Baker, M.A.
Defoe: Moll Flanders, and
Roxana, Edited by E. A,
Baker, M.A,
Gesta Romanorum ; Entertaining
Moral Stories Invented by the
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Gilt top.
Monks. Translated, with In-
troduction and Notes, by Rev,
Charles Swan. Introduction
by E, A. Baker.
Lewis: The Monk,
E, A, er.
Queen of Navarre: The Hepta- ~
meron, ‘Translated by Arthur
Machen,
Sidney (Sir Philip): Arcadia.
Introduction by E, A. Baker,
A
Edited by
Swift: Gulliver's Travels, and
other Writings. From the First
Editions, With a note on the
name ‘Gulliver’ by J. P. Gilson.
Thoms, W. J.: Early English
Prose Romances. Introduction
by E. A. Baker, M.A,
Wieland: Don Silvio de Rosalva.
Introduction by E. A, Baker,
Picaresque Section.
Edited by H. WARNER ALLEN, M.A. (Oxon.),
Celestina, also Callisto and Melibcea, with Introduction on the Pica-
resque Novel, by the Editor.
Adventures of Gil Blas, with an Introduction by William M. Fullerton,
Others in preparation.
Misr w Geurt Barware
een
THE AUTHOR’S DECLARATION.
THERE.are_some people in the world so mischievous as not to read a work
without applying the vicious or ridiculous characters it may happen to contain
to eminent or popular individuals, I protest publicly against the pretended
discovery of any such likenesses. My purpose was to represent human life
historically as_it exists: God forbid I should hold myself out as a portrait-
painter. Let not the reader then take to himself public property ; for if he »
does, he may chance to throw an unlucky light on his own character: as
Pheedrus expresses it, Stu/t2 nudabit animi conscientiam.
Certain physicians of Castille, as well as of France, are sometimes a little
too fond of trying the bleeding and lowering system on their patients. Vices,
their patrons, and their dupes, are of every day’s occurrence. To be sure, I
have not alwaysadopted Spanish manners with scrupulous exactness ; and in
the instance of the players at Madrid, those who know their disorderly modes
of living may reproach me with softening down their coarser traits : but this I
have been induced to do from a sense of delicacy, and in conformity with the
manners of my own country.
614946
GIL BLAS TO THE READER.
[ zesom hark you, my friend! Do not begin the story of my life till I have
old you a short tale.
Two students travelled together from Penafiel to Salamanca. Finding
themselves tired and thirsty, they stopped by the side of a spring on the road.
While they were resting there, after having quenched their thirst, by chance
they espied on a stone near them, even with the ground, part of an inscription,
in some degree effaced by time, and by the tread of flocks in the habit of water-
ing at that spring. Having washed the stone, they were able to trace these
words in the dialect of Castille; Agui esta encerrada el alma del licenciado
Pedro Garcias, ‘*‘ Here lies interred the soul of the licentiate Peter Garcias.”
Hey-day ! roars out the younger, a lively, heedless fellow, who could not get
on with his deciphering for laughter : This is a good joke indeed ;: ‘‘ Here lies
interred the soul.” .... Asoul interred! ... . I should like to know the
whimsical author of this ludicrous epitaph. With this sneer he got up to go
away. His companion, who had more sense, said within himself; Underneath
this stone lies some mystery ; I will stay, and see the end of it. Accordingly,
he let his comrade depart, and without loss of time began digging round about
the stone with his knife till he got it up. Under it he found a purse of leather,
containing an hundred ducats with a card on which was written these words in
Latin : ‘* Whoever thou art who hast wit enough to discover the meaning of the
inscription, I appoint thee my heir, in the hope thou wilt make a better use
of my fortune than I have done!” The student, out of his wits at the discovery,
replaced the stone in its former position, andset out again on the Salamanca road
_with the soul of the licentiate in his pocket.
| Now, my good friend and reader, no matter who you are, you must be like
one or the other of these two students. If you cast your eye over my adventures
without fixing it on the moral concealed under them, you will derive very little
benefit from the perusal: but if you read with attention you will find that
, Neen of the useful with the agreeable, so successfully prescribed by Horace.
INTRODUCTION.
WALTER SCOTT, who craved the beatitude—the word is
his own—that would attend the perusal of another book
as entrancing as Gi/ Blas, was on the side of the un-
tutored public which knows nothing of technical classifi-
cations or of M. Brunetiére’s theory of the “ évolution
des genres.” lLesage’s great book, though scarcely
answering to the exact technical definition of a picaresque ;
novel—the biography of a ficaro_ or rogue—belongs,
nevertheless, by its external form, to the picaresque type
of fiction ; and Scott would certainly have admitted that
its picaresqueness was very good of its kind; that it was
in fact as picaresque as could be expected of a French-
man who was conspicuously an “honnéte homme”
and who signed himself “bourgeois de Paris.” But
in all likelihood he would have instantly added that it
was not the “picaresqueness” of Gz/ Blas which has
given that production its fame; and that, if Lesage’s
masterpiece has lived so long, and if it lives to-day with
such a fresh and abundant life, this constant appeal has
been made in spite of its resemblance to the Spanish
picaresque prototype.
The application of the scientific method to literary
criticism during the last generation has steadily tended
to define works of art as “documents” of their epoch, and
at the same time to classify them according to their
structural variations rather than to accept them wholly
viii INTRODUCTION.
as sources of human pleasure. The novel of Lesage.
for the purposes of classification, may be viewed as a
picaresque novel, and it is interesting and legitimate to
note that it is no doubt the best of its kind; yet there
is equally little doubt that thousands of readers who do
not know what the word “picaresque” means have for
several generations regarded Gz/ Blas as simply the best
of all novels, and that their reasons have been based on
prarlities quite independent of the mould into which it
happened to be run, This is, in fact, the truth which
Heinege brief remarks are meant to set forth. In order to
become a classic, and in order to hold its own among the
books of the world, Gi/ Blas has had to live down its
| picaresqueness. The book has survived, and become one
of the great books, notwithstanding the characteristics
which seemed destined to confine it to the museum of
antique literary forms.
I
Walter Scott’s recognition of the supreme delightful-
ness of Gi/ Bias has not been general among the critics ;
indeed, the sense of its intrinsic value as a definition of
life must rather be placed to the credit of the uncritical
public. Voltaire, referring to Lesage in his “ Siécle de
Louis XIV,” limits his praise to the remark: “ His novel
Gil Blas has survived because of the naturalness of
the style.” The curtness and inadequacy of this remark
are probably due rather to the fact that Voltaire did not
see beyond the superficial traits of this novel, its general
picaresque atmosphere, than, as has so often been
asserted, to any malicious intent to decry a book in
which he supposed himself to have been held up to
ridicule.* Joubert, whose delicacy was a hothouse fruit
* The traditional view is, however, plausible enough, as Mr.
James Fitzmaurice-Kelly has shown in his introduction to the
INTRODUCTION. vs)
grown in the thin subsoil and the devitalised air in which
he was compelled to live, corroborates Voltaire, while
revealing his own prejudices—after all, is not the main
interest of criticism the light it throws upon the critic ?—
in a characteristic utterance: “ Lesage’s novels would
appear to have been written in a café by a domino-
player, after spending the evening at the play.” Evidently
this is a long way from the “ beatitude ” of Walter Scott,
but it is nearer the point of view of Mr. Warner Allen,
who,* while he notes that GzZ Blas “has a conscience,”
is ingeniously effective in arguing that the spirit of Gz/
Bilas is essentially picaresque—by which he means that
realism and materialism are so predominantly its note
that it must be classed well below “ Don Quixote,” where
the heterogeneous picaresque material is beautifully
fused by the imagination of an idealist. “It is just
because Lesage ignores the idealistic side of man,”
Mr. Allen says, “that Gz? Blas misses being a great
creation.” On the other hand, La Harpe, who had read
many books, but was no doubt the very opposite of a
scientific critic of literature, praises Gz/ Blas not merely,
as did Scott, for its entertainment, its agrément, but also
for its moral inspiration ; z¢z/e dulcz, he insists, ought to
be the device of this excellent book, forgetting that
Lesage has himself written the precept of Horace on its
title-page. “C’est l’école du monde que Gi/ Blas,” La
Harpe continues ; and he remarks with singular felicity
edition of Gz/ Blas published in the “ World’s Classics.” ‘There
can be no doubt as to Lesage having ridiculed Voltaire in two of
his plays.
* In his remarkable General Introduction to his edition of
Celestina in the Picaresque Section of the “Library of Early
Novelists,” to which this volume belongs.
x INTRODUCTION.
that Lesage in Gil Blas “has not fallen into that
gratuitous profusion of minute detail which is now-a-
days taken to be truth.” This comment suggests the
probability that the reproach addressed to Lesage as to
his lack of idealism is one that La Harpe would be dis-
inclined to accept; and that they who make it have
other standards for judging a work of art than those of
the public to whom it is addressed, or indeed than those
of the artist himself, especially such an artist as Lesage,
who in his “ Déclaration” to the reader says expressly :
‘My sole aim has been to represent life asit is”: “ Je ne
me suis propose que de représenter la vie des hommes
telle qu’elle est.”
Certain of Lesage’s predecessors had already declared
it to be their aim to write books which should be a
wholesome reaction against the romanticism of the tales
of chivalry that had so long delighted the taste of
Europe. The sub-title of Alemdn’s famous novel,
Guzmdn de Alfarache, was Atalaya de la Vida, which
Chapelain translated by “ Image” or “ Miroir de la Vie
Humaine.” And long before Lesage, the author of
l’ Histoire Comique de Francion used almost the identical
terms of Aleman and Lesage in announcing his tale:
“Nous avons dessein de voir une image de la vie
humaine, de sorte qu’il nous en faut montrer ici diverses
pitces.” Francion, less picaresque than the hero of
Aleman, was undoubtedly what he has: been called by
one of Lesage’s biographers, M. Lintilhac, a direct pre-
cursor of Gil Blas ; and there can be no question as to
the importance of the influence exercised upon Lesage
by Charles Sorel’s admirable performance. But, how-
ever easily even a little erudition can discover possible
prototypes of Gz/ Blas in the late sixteenth and early
INTRODUCTION. eat
seventeenth century literature of both France and Spain
—however picaresque, in a word, Gi/ Blas may be, and
whatever else it may be—its picaresqueness was obviously,
for Lesage, not an end in itself, but_merely a device for
carrying out his main project, which was “the repre- »
sentation of life”; and the meaning he put into those
words was incomparably richer than was their connota-
tion on the lips of an Aleman or even a Sorel. Lesage
found ready to his hand one of the most convenient
literary forms that the novel ever assumed for the
achievement of the end he had inview. That end was to
hold a mirror up to Nature, and to the whole of Nature.
This ambitious project has haunted most observers
who have essayed the novel form. It was obviously the
end and aim of the author of Ana Karenina. . But such
is the complexity of human relations, such the variety of
the kinds of human plights, such the swift passage of
events, such are the endless differences and the fleeting
character of the situations presented to the artistic
consciousness at any moment of time, that only the most
self-confident craftsman would be tempted, in his sane
mind, to undertake their complete representation. The
mirror in which a writer would seek to converge and to
foreshorten the vast spectacle of things must needs be
an all-but unmanageable revolving mirror of gigantic
dimensions, unless some way be found of dispensing with
such machinery altogether. Tolstoi made no attempt to
achieve an artistic synthesis of life as a whole. He was
content to map life out on a sort of Mercator’s projection.
Balzac despaired altogether of success, and confined
himself to “ doing “ the multitudinous phases of human
activity piecemeal. Lesage, on the other hand, hit on
the happy idea of using the fzcavo type, the picaresque
xii INTRODUCTION.
tradition in the novel, to facilitate his project. And
what device, in fact, could be neater and more rapid?
Certainly not the invention of Zola. The author of the
series of the Rougon-Macquart set himself the task of
describing the whole of French society at the end of the
last century. He believed himself to have improved on
Balzac’s method by conceiving of a family-tree, with
branches sufficiently wide-spreading to illustrate every
kind of activity of which French men or French women
were capable in his time. The unity of his result was
to be secured by postulating a family, the sum of the
several lives of whose members should be coterminous
with the conscious existence of all their essential French
fellow-types at a certain historical period. The plan was
ingenious but artificially ingenuous.
Lesage, writing at the opening of the eighteenth
century, had, it is true, the luck to be free to employ—
or, in fact, to have thrust upon him by the literary taste
of his time—a simpler trick for the representation of life,
The literary air was full of picaresque odours. But,
while Lesage came after Sorel and Aleman, and a score
of other sane story-tellers eager to temper the bombast
of the hour by the saving salt of realism, the living
models that surrounded him were quite as suggestive
as any he might have been led to imitate in the books
of his predecessors. Lintilhac, Cherbuliez, Brunetiére,
have dwelt in detail on this fact. What need had
Lesage of a Guzman or a Francion, when before his
very eyes were such conspicuous models for the study
of the valet parvenu as the Cardinals Dubois and
Alberoni? And why go farther afield than the memoirs
of the famous Gourville, which appeared in 1673, if one
really feels impelled at all costs to account for the origin
INTRODUCTION. xiii
of Gil Blas, and to answer the futile question, “ Where
did Lesage get his idea?” That kind of inquiry ex-
plains everything except the essential. Homer and
Shakespeare, Walter Scott and Corneille, have been put
to the same torture as Lesage; and in the folds of their
royal robes whole colonies of industrious parasitic moths
are still furiously and often enviously at work. There
isa “ Lesage question” as there is an “ Homeric question.”
But of this the public recks little. It sanely holds the
view of M. de Maurepas, who wittily defined an author
as “un homme qui prend aux livres tout ce qui lui passe
par la téte.” The public rightly judges the work of art
by the criterion of pleasure which it is capable of giving.
By that standard Gz/ Blas was long ago classed among
the delightful books of the world. How many of its
beauties are plagiarisms, or whether any of them are,
are inquiries which the wise are content to leave to the
mandarins of literature.*
II
The representation of life, then, is the avowed object
of Lesage. Gz/ Blas is a microcosm. One might apply
to Lesage the words of Balzac in allusion to the Comédie
Flumaine: “ Jaurai porté une société toute enti¢re dans
ma téte.” Gil Blas is a picture, singularly vivid and
comprehensive, of the society of France at the close of
the reign of Louis XIV and at the beginning of the
* While the oft-reported story of the pillage by Lesage of a lost
Spanish manuscript is a myth, it is incontestable that in the last
books of Gz/ Blas he embodied long passages from a French
translation of two Italian pamphlets on The Disgrace of Count
Olivares, and from a book published in 1683 at Cologne entitled,
Le Ministre Parfait ou le Comte-Duc. It is easy to prove also
that Lesage had read Lazarill&de Tormes and a great many
_ Spanish tales and plays; but, as M. Lintilhac says, so had
Corneille, yet the Czd@ remains the C7d.
xiv . INTRODUCTION.
Regency. Lesage, like St. Simon, sought to reflect the
life of his time ; but he is greater than St. Simon because
of the larger general interest and_ significance of his
literary form. Lesage was a gentleman, serenely, gaily
taking notes on the world that surrounded him; but, as
it pleased him to publish all his notes in his own lifetime,
he adopted the novel form and the device of a Spanish
atmosphere. Happily the society that surrounded Lesage
in the Paris of the end of the seventeenth and the
beginning of the eighteenth centuries was sufficiently
complex and representative for an exhaustive picture of
that world to assume a typical value.
Gu_ Blas _is_an_encyclopzdia of human types. No_
other single book contains so rich a collection of
specimens of the genus homo. The success with which
Lesage has introduced into Gi/ Blas virtually every form
of human character, all sorts and conditions of men, is
one of the miracles of literary art. . The purely traditional
picaro types, the vagabond and_ the _beggar,.the un-
scrupulous highwayman and the cut-throat, have, after
all, comparatively small importance in the great comedy
of ‘life which Lesage depicts. These picaro types move
in and out of the vast throng peopling his pages much
as their counterparts in the flesh, the Apaches of the
Marais quarter, jostled on the Pont Neuf the honest
workman, the country bumpkin, the banker Turcaret,
the bourgeois merchant, the strutting soldier, the bare-
foot monk, the daintily stepping petits maittres, the
authors and the actors, the ministers and the high
Officials, the servants and the adventurers, the priests,
and the précieuses peering from their vinaigrettes. From
the brigand cave that sheltered the jail-bird to the
drawing-room of the Marquise de Chaves, from the
INTRODUCTION. ‘ XV
boudoir of the enticing Laure to the cabinet. of the
Duke of Olivares, we visit every haunt of human
activity and every social condition, conversing on the
way with comedians, doctors, poets, lawyers, statesmen,
valets, judges of the Inquisition, shopkeepers, courtesans,
archbishops, and countless other actors of the Human
Comedy. The final impression is that we have been
in contact with the whole of life and with life as a
whole, In this connexion it is pertinent to quote the
verdict of Nodier in the “ Notice” prefixed to the famous
and now rare edition of Gz/ Blas containing the wood-
cuts of Jean Gigoux (Paris 1835): “Comme il avait
embrassé tout ce qui appartient a l‘homme dans sa
composition, il osa se prescrire d’embrasser toute la
langue dans son travail.” In other words, the gram-
marian and the lexicographer have in Gz/ Blas what
Nodier is justified in calling “un monument de la
langue.”
We have witnessed the amusing spectacle arm-in-arm
with Gil Blas de Santillane, a puppet of circumstance,
but the most good-natured of companions. No youth
of sprightlier wit, of keener observation, or of more
unfailing good humour was ever born of mortal man or
immortal writer. Gil Blas is too agreeable a fellow for
us to dream of parting company with him merely
because of his escapades. Moreover, no one was ever
long in his company without discovering that the first-
fruit of his innate gift of observation is a habit of
reflection gradually conducting him to the point of view
of the great American pragmatist. For Gil Blas, as for
Franklin, whatever else honesty may be, it is at all
events the best policy. His ambition “to get on,” to
succeed, is not the ambition of a Julien Sorel. He is not
xvi INTRODUCTION.
ready and willing to succeed at any price. He would
not say cynically with Marie-Caroline of Naples: “je
vois trop que la force seule compte et que la bonne foi
ne sert qu’a étre dupe.” (Letter to the Marquis de
Gallo, July 2, 1800.) In the case of Gil Blas, the habit...
of reflection has engendered a conscience, As he grows
older_in_ experience, the practical _promptings of that
copscience tend to arrest many an impulse to indulge
his petty vices and to reinforce the virtues which he is
prudent enough to regard as useful. His efforts to
better his lot, while they bring to the fore his harmless
vanity, and often indeed a certain less agreeable snob-
bishness, are after all to his credit. He is the first to
laugh at his own mistakes, as he is the first to learn
the lesson of his blunders. - Here is a characteristic
utterance of his:
“T let myself go with the current for three weeks. I gave
myself up to every form of voluptuous pleasure. But I will
say at the same time that in the midst of it all a sense of
remorse often mingled bitterness with my delight. Debauch
did not stifle this remorse ; my remorse increased, on the
contrary, in proportion as I became more and more of a
debauchee ; and, as a result of my fortunately honest nature,
the disorder of the theatrical life began to strike me with
horror. Ah, wretch that you are, I said to myself, is it thus
that you are fulfilling the expectations of your family? Is it
impossible, merely because you are a servant, to be an honest
man? Do you really find it worth while to live with such a
vicious crew? Envy, anger and avarice dominate some of ”
them ; modesty is unknown to others. Some have given
themselves up to intemperance and idleness, while in others
pride has become insolence. Enough of this! I will dwell no
longer with the seven deadly sins.”
u -) a MPa =e fF Orr Fo NE
? Pe eee ile 2 CPt & Gitte be * 4 +
5 iad ee sy
Pica D PF Torr
ie bude Bog
™
INTRODUCTION. xvii
From all that we know of Lesage himself, as well as
from. a comparison of Gil Blas with the author’s other
works, it seems legitimate to conclude that the good
humour of his most famous hero is merely the expression
of his own philosophic gaiety, at all events of his own
disabused placidity, his dourgeois moderation and prac-
tical sense, his bias toward taking things easily. . Life,
when viewed at the angle adopted by Lesage,_is_ an, .
endless series of comic situations of a highly diverting
and edifying character, Many of its conventions, which
are nurtured on hypocrisy and snobbery, form a constant
object of his good-humoured raillery, just as they form
the subject-matter of the comic verve of his great master,
Moliére. Both have the most refreshing sense of values
and an unimpeachable intellectual honesty.
The most comic incidents of the tale are the series
of rebuffs experienced by Lesage’s naive hero before
he finally reaches the point where discretion becomes
a second nature. With what touching and respectful
candour does Gil Blas fall a prey to the pretentions and
foibles of the great! Note the art with which Lesage,
by juxtaposing his hero with, for instance, an Archbishop
of Granada, shows the vain prelate so enamoured of his
own productions as to suffer no honest criticism from
even the most disinterested of his acolytes. First cajoled
by flattery, then infuriated by the naive frankness of
Gil Blas, whose opinion he had solicited, he shows the
rash youth the door; and Gil Blas returns once again
to his life of adventure. It is his rich fund of good sense
that saves him here as throughout his career, and that
keeps his judgment sane and his heart true amid all the
eccentricities and affectations and passing passions, and
even the temptations, which surround and beset him
er
\ 4 Hk of La ‘
Oo er bon se
) Au fail al ns
i z v x“ fb g af if
Be Lene ern 4
tes , Hye L£%
xviii INTRODUCTION.
during his checkered years. This jolly easy-going boon
companion is a long time learning to be canny, but
he is never really a fool. He comes out ultimately
the poorer for the loss of a good many illusions,
but profoundly convinced that straightforwardness in
human relations is as desirable a good as simplicity
in art.
im with his friend Fabrice, turned writer @ da
mode, after having been the astute lackey who early in
life defined with such cold-blooded cynicism the ideals of
a servant:
“le métier de laquais est impossible, je l’avoue, pour un im-
bécile ; mais il a des charmes pour un garcon d’esprit. Un
génie supérieur qui se met en condition ne fait pas son service
matériellement comme un nigaud. Il entre dans une maison
pour commander plutét que pour servir, Il commence par
étudier son maitre, il se préte 4 ses défauts, gagne sa confiance
et le méne ensuite par le nez.”
Fabrice, seized by “la rage d’écrire,” as Gil Blas calls it,
and convinced that he has in him the stuff of a great
writer, ignores the sage advice of his employer who has
warned him that poetry is not all beer and skittles, and
comes up to Madrid, the centre of “les beaux esprits,”
“in order to form his taste.” He falls under the influence
of one of the leaders in a log-rolling literary set, and so
adroitly imitates the fashion of the hour that he is
regarded as one of the cleverest writers of the younger
generation. He and Gil Blas meet, after many years,
over a bottle of wine; and Fabrice reads to his friend a
sonnet which Gil Blas finds absurdly obscure. “A poet
capable of producing such rubbish as that,” he says,
“can deceive only his time” ; and he adds, “ your sonnet
is merely pompous nonsense.” - The tortured, involved,
INTRODUCTION. xix
affected style disgusts Gil Blas as such a style always
disgusted Lesage, whose one ambition was to be an
“é€crivain naturel qui parle comme le commun des
hommes,” and who detested “le langage précieux”
which the great ladies and certain wits of his time took
to be the mark of genius and a password for immortality.
Fabrice becomes angry. “Tu n’es qu’une béte avec ton
style naturel,’ he exclaims; and he maliciously reminds
Gil Blas of what befell him with the Archbishop. of
Granada, The allusion makes the two old friends laugh,
and they finish the evening over a third bottle.
Yes, Gil Blas, who is a kind of joyous jack-of-all-
trades, capable, as Fabrice on another occasion puts it,
of fulfilling all kinds of employment, since he possesses
“Voutil universel,” is interesting and sympathetic quite as
much because of his sound sense and ready wit as because
of his amusing adventures. But this good sense and this
wit, it should be remembered, are the fruits of his ex-
perience. ( Gil Blas’s character is slowly formed by he.
under the reader’s eye. Successively the dupe of the
habits and the manners, the prejudices and the ideals of
each social condition which he traverses in his advance |
towards the stable equilibrium of middle age, he is too
intelligent ever to remain dazzled by his surroundings
for more than a brief period. You constantly hear him,
after each fresh round with Fate, saying in his natural |
French way: “Ca n’est pas ca; there must be some- |
thing better than that in store for me!” —Even the seduc- |
tion of life at Court ceases eventually to charm him; and |
one of his most poignant regrets is the fact that he had
forgotten under that corrupting influence his father and
mother and the old canon, his uncle. He does his best
later on to make amends for this neglect. On his way
xx INTRODUCTION.
to his country place at Lirias he is suddenly filled with
remorse, and he turns aside towards Oviedo, where his
parents live. His own dream now is to watch over their
last years; and he looks forward, on arriving home, to
inscribing in gold letters on the door of his father’s house
the Latin verses:
*Inveni portum. Spes et Fortuna, valete!
Sat me lusistis ; ludite nunc alios!”
Alas! it is almost too late, for he arrives just in time
to bury his father. He had previously entered the
country inn, where he had been recognised by the inn-
keeper with lively joy. “By Saint Anthony of Padua,”
his host had exclaimed, “here is the son of the good Blas
de Santillane” ; and his wife had chimed in with, “Why,
yes, soitis. Oh,I recognisehim, Heis hardly changed.
It’s that wide-awake little Gil Blas who had more intelli-
gence than inches. I can still see him dropping in here
for a bottle of wine for his uncle’s supper.” Gil Blas has
changed, nevertheless. Fabrice is too keen not to per-
ceive it some time afterwards when Gil Blas visits him at
the hospital, Fabrice remarks upon his modest bearing
and observes: “You haven’t the vain and insolent air
/that prosperity is wont to give.” Gil Blas explains the
reason why: “ Les disgraces ont purifi¢ ma virtu; et j’ai
}appris a l’école de l’adversité a jouir des richesses sans
m’en laisser posséder.’/ He is now and then to be a
\ backslider still, but ve know that he has learned the
essential lesson of life. Really, as the Italians say, “ Il
tempo é galantuomo.”
III
The rapidity of the narrative enhances the effect of
optimism which is so inspiriting throughout the whole
INTRODUCTION. xxi
book. ‘The transitions from the episodes of bad luck to
those of good fortune take place, as Smollett has already
pointed out, so suddenly that the reader i
time to pity Gil Blas, He is speedily inspired with a firm
confidence in Lesage’s ingenuity, which somehow manages
to extricate his hero from every possible embarrassment. .”
Lesage’s point of view, as an observer of life, is thus '
quickly revealed to be a lively sense of life’s chronic
succession of ups and downs, and of the merely relative
importance of its plights. When Gil Blas loses his place
with Count Galiano, he remarks:
_ “T began to lose courage when I found myself back again in
so miserable a case. I had grown accustomed to the con- |
veniences of existence, and I could no longer, as before, —
regard indigence with cynicism. Yet I will confess I was/
wrong to indulge in sadness after having so many times.
discovered that no sooner had Fortune upset me than it put
me on my feet again.”
Lesage accepts the stoical ideal of pati in adversity,
: but he does not accept it in the stoical way. His
: philosophy is the Christian belief in a Providence upon
whom sane mortals may serenely rely. Providence, he
knows, can be counted upon to hold the balance true on
that Day of Judgment, when all human things will be
set right, and when there will be a startling reversal of
human verdicts. Convinced, like Bishop Butler, that
things will be as they will be, his experience of life has
taught him that the best philosophy is to bide one’s
time, all one’s antenne out. For Lesage the logical
result of having been frequently a fool is to cease being
a dupe.
It would be possible and amusing to draw a parallel
xxii INTRODUCTION.
in this connexion between the philosophy of Lesage and
that of an even more successful French playwright of
the present day, M. Alfred Capus—who has not
yet, however, written a Gi/ B/as—and to contrast the
manner of the two with that of Beyle in his charac-
terisation of Julien Sorel. Gil Blas is too often, if
you like, a genial rascal, as are so many of M. Capus’s
heroes, but he is never an odiously cynical one like
his servant Sc¢ipion, and like Julien. While Lesage
could say with Philinte, discreetly blaming the vices
of mankind:
“Je prends tout doucement les hommes comme ils sont,
J’accoutume mon Ame a souffrir ce qu’ils font . . .
Oui, je vois ces défauts dont votre dme murmure
Comme vices unis & ’humaine nature,
Et mon esprit enfin n’est pas plus offensé
De voir un homme fourbe, injuste, intéressé,
Que de voir des vautours affamés de carnage,
Des singes malfaisants et des loups pleins de rage,”
Beyle did not confine himself to “accustoming his soul
to suffer” the enormities that men commit, but positively
created in Julien Sorel an unscrupulous professor of
energy whom he would appear to have regarded as an
excellent model. Lesage, on the other hand, must be
looked upon as a moralist; a moralist indulgent, no
doubt—such indulgence was the finest flower of his
inexhaustible knowledge of life—yet a moralist in the
same sense in which Shakespeare and Moliére are
moralists. Moreover, Lesage has no cynical bias forcing
him to confine the subject-matter of his novel to such
naturalistic notations as were the stock-in-trade of the
Goncourts and, to a large extent, of Zola.
He had notably no such bias, either “cynical” or
INTRODUCTION. xxiii
“ moral,” as has wittingly altered the reports of so many
British observers of life, who have regarded the pursuit
of literature as a mission, to be accepted with a high and
strenuous purpose, for the improvement of their fellows.
Thus, even a Thackeray wrote first and foremost for
edification. Ina recently published letter to his friend
Robert Hall, Thackeray refers as follows to Vanity Fair:
“T want to leave everybody dissatisfied and unhappy at the
end of the story—we ought all to be with our own and all
other stories. Good God! don’t I see (in that maybe cracked
and warped looking-glass in which I am always looking) my
own weaknesses, wickednesses, lusts, follies, shortcomings?
in company, let us hope, with better qualities about which
we will pretermit discourse. We must lift up our voices
about these and howl to a congregation of fools: so much, at
least, has been my endeavour.” (Zhe Times, July 17, 1911.)
The idea of “howling to a congregation of fools” would
have struck Lesage as a counsel of impertinent ill-
breeding, or, at all events, as a grotesque attitude for a
self-respecting novelist. Of course, Thackeray was in the
tradition of a literature which counts among its chief
masterpieces the Pilgrim’s Progress ; but if the Puritan
point of view is good sociology and good Tolstoism, it is
not necessarily for that reason good art; and it would
even seem to make “good art” a more difficult achieve-
ment. Inthe great book just mentioned there is no laugh
of Tom Jones to clear the air. Thackeray would have
seemed, indeed, in Vanity Fair to have been more of an
artist than his pamphleteering preoccupations appeared
likely to allow him to become. He himself states his
object in that book to have been to indicate in cheerful
terms that we are for the most part an abominably
foolish and selfish people. Incorrigible misanthropist, he
aaaek
xxiv INTRODUCTION.
sets Out to draw up a savage indictment of the society of
his time. He is cheerful, as cheerful as he knows how to
be; but, as he has resolved to give no one in his book a
chance, his cheerfulness fails to produce all its intended
effect. Finally, one and all, even Amelia, are branded
because foredoomed. But what is the result? _Gibbeted
for an example, they inspire more pity than horror; and
not only does all our sympathy go out to them against
the despotic heartlessness of the author, who so unfairly
nailed them to the cross, but we fail even to draw the
whole of the useful general moral which Thackeray
holds to be essential. Thus Thackeray upsets even his
own ends; anxious, by the confessed clarion-toned
morality of his appeal, to produce the effect aimed at
by a prophet in Israel, he nevertheless inspires in his
reader a quick and sane recoil before the arbitrary in-
justice, or, at all events, the incredibility of the author's
misanthropy. In literary art, in fact, the only way to
convey the illusion of reality is to tell the average truth
about the average man.
Lesage, like the Tolstoi of the good period, had the
tact and good sense to perceive this. He does not make
the unscientific and inartistic blunder of humiliating his
heroes. Like a Balzac or a Tolstoi or a Henry James, he
gives them their full value, takes them for all they are
worth. The pretension that naturalism, because super-
ficially true to a certain aspect of life, is realism in the
complete sense of the word, is a view which Lesage in
Gil Blas triumphantly repudiates; and he differs from
many playwrights of contemporary France, who appear
to be so enamoured of caddishness as to regard its mani-
festations as pre-eminently worthy of presentation in the
novel or on the stage. One of the ablest of Lesage’s
INTRODUCTION. XXV
commentators has called him the Homer of naturalism ;
no neater phrase could be found to define his importance
and his manner.
Nor is it the fault of Lesage if his immediate influence
upon the literature of his time was perhaps not wholly
what he would himself have wished it to be. It is a
commonplace to note that Lesage helped to prepare in
France that eighteenth century with which he was in so
many respects out of sympathy. There was a whole side
of Lesage that was out of touch with the modern world
surrounding him. M. Faguet seems to me absolutely
right as to this point. The spirit, the attitude of Lesage Pose
are_seventeenth-century—for, after all, the seventeenth
century was ile so eminently moralist ; sill
believes in the superiority. of the clear old form Pi ex- /
natural utterance. that _everybody~carr™ ‘understand “to.
individual experiments in ingenious phraseology. More- |
over, while not at all the corséiéts moralist, he is a /
moralist all the same; he has a certain generalising |
habit, the liking for large vistas, harmonious inclusive |
ranges of thought; his thought-scapes have the per-/
fection and the proportions of a garden by Le Notre,
But it is nevertheless certain that the immense success
of Lesage as a realist, the fact that he made realism look
so easy, constituted a terrible incentive to imitation ; and
that, as a matter of fact, his example was just one of
those which no writer could afford to follow who had not
his marvellous good sense and his mental and moral
poise. Without such moral balance and such good sense
the would-be realist is almost certain to become addicted
to the grosser forms of naturalism, to exercise, that is, his
faculty of clear vision on special salient and picturesque,
&
pression ; he _abominates » an affected” style ; he prefers ail
ys
XXV1 INTRODUCTION.
even salacious and perverse cases, rather than upon the
types of the average world with which average men are
familiar. Thus there can be no doubt that Lesage’s
unconcern for positive edification, his indifference to
matters of conscience, was a trait of the eighteenth
century, and a trait for which he may to a certain extent
be held responsible. It was inevitable that he should
find imitators, and that, in this sense, he may be said to
open the way to a Crébillon ji/s and a Laclos, even to a
Louvet, for whom he would have refused to be responsible,
and to prepare an eighteenth century with which there is
every reason to suppose he would have become utterly
out of sympathy, not merely as a man, but as an artist
in letters,
IV
It remains to consider Gi/ Blas as a work of literary
art. In style it is one of the most perfect examples of
“narrative prose in the world, comparable for limpidity,
ease, and precision, with that of Cervantes in Don
Quixote. With regard to its composition, it is noticeable
that the novel begins at the same pitch of calm lucidity
which is to characterise it to the end. The reader feels
that the promise of the author in his “ Declaration,” “ I
have merely undertaken to represent life as it is,” is likely
to be kept. Lesage speaks with authority. The artists
who inspire confidence with their very first stroke are not
numerous. ‘They belong to the aristocracy of the masters,
What do such certainty and distinction imply? They
mean that the product is the fruit of a mature intelli-
gence; that the artist, be he sculptor, writer, or painter,
has not undertaken to express until his mind is, as we
say, thoroughly made up as to the nature of its content,
INTRODUCTION. xxvii
nor until he is serenely master of the means at his dis-
posal; that, in a word, he knows his business. In the
case of Lesage it is peculiarly significant that, when he
published the first part of Gz/ Blas in 1715, he was
already forty-seven years of age ; that the second part did
not appear until 1724, nine years later ; and that he was
already an old gentleman with a family of boys, one of
whom had entered the Church, when he ended his life-
work, by the publication of the third part, in 1735. Gzl
Bilas, in short, is the product of the maturity of one of
the keenest observers that ever looked out upon the
spectacle of things. The broad good-humoured gaiety of
the earlier book, which vibrates with a picaresque lilt, is
shaded gradually down, in the second volume, into a
finer, serener, more intellectual irony. This change
betrays the natural evolution in the author’s interests
and curiosities during the period reaching from his forty-
seventh to his sixty-seventh year. The gaiety of the six
books of the first part is to be contrasted with the
soberer, more reflective spirit of the tale as it proceeds.
We seem to be suiting our pace tothe increasingly graver
temper of a man whose knowledge of life has become
richer, his insight keener, his heart more tolerant and
generous. With the steady elimination of the picaresque
element the novel becomes more and more an inclusive
criticism of life. The author seems to. be brooding over
his pages with a tenderer care, as if he were more and
more conscious of the significance, the magnificence even,
of his task. :
It is one of the results of this long gestation that GzZ
Blas has become a book of world-wide popularity. In
the history of letters it has been an inexhaustible source
ofenergy. Itinspired the realistic novel. From Smollett
xxviii INTRODUCTION.
and Marivaux to Dickens and Zola, and even to an
Anatole France and to a Pio Baroja, Lesage has been the
avowed or unavowed model of those writers who have
been passionately enamoured of life, and irrepressibly
compelled to express it, The influence of Lesage on the
author, for instance, of Le Rouge et le Noir and of La
Chartreuse de Parme—perhaps particularly on the
Stendhal of the Chartreuse de Parme—seems incontest-
able. In August 1804, Beyle, writing to his sister
Pauline, recommends her to read Gz/ Alas in order to
learn to know the world, and cites the famous anecdote
of the Archbishop of Granada’s sermons. In April 1805,
he promises to bring her the book. In another undated
letter to his sister, Beyle writes: “the most accurate
picture of human nature as it is, in the France of the
eighteenth century, is still the book of Lesage, Gz/ Blas.
Meditate well this excellent work.” And finally, in his
Journal, under the date of “1o Floréal, an XII, 1805,”
Beyle notes his intention to cure himself of romanticism,
and to learn to judge men as they are, by re-reading a
certain number of books, among which he mentions
Beaumarchais, the tales and La Pucelle of Voltaire,
Chamfort, and Gz/ Blas. That is to say, at the most
impressionable period of his intellectual life Beyle read
and re-read Gz/ Blas; a fact which a discerning critic
might easily guess, as to the truth of which, indeed, such
a critic would feel an absolute conviction, and which the
documents cited appear to leave beyond a doubt. It
would perhaps be an exaggeration to pretend that but
for Gz/ Blas, Beyle would not have been Stendhal; but I
may be permitted to quote the following passage from a
private letter of M, Paul Arbelet, the editor of Stendhal’s
Fournal a’Itahie.
INTRODUCTION. xxix_
“Votre hypothtse me parait trés séduisante. Il y a sans
aucun doute quelque parenté¢ intellectuelle entre Lesage et
Stendhal, tous deux curieux d’observation morale, tous deux
juges sans illusions des faiblesses humaines, mais point misan-
thropes, car ils s’indignent peu des vices ou des ridicules,
qui les amusent plutét ou les intéressent. Di’ailleurs l'un et
Yautre manquent d’imagination et de poésie. Je comprends
donc trés bien que vous ayez eu l’idée d’une influence de
Lesage sur Stendhal.”
Furthermore, while Lesage is all this, the fountain-head
of a great literary current, he is at the same time, as
a moralist, in the sanest Latin and French tradition,
that which is marked, in successive epochs, by the serene
temper of a Horace, by the gay science, the pantagruelism
of a Rabelais, by the irony of a Beaumarchais, who “se
hata de rire de tout, de peur d’étre obligé d’en pleurer,”
and finally by the tranquil mansuetude of a Renan:
observers, one and all, who, after having told the towers
of all the citadels of science, became amusedly aware
that the only really absolute truth in the world is that all
things are rclative.
WM. MORTON FULLERTON,
rs Pact nite
ants 2woe, pares
raat iss ming they
oluoible. evi sae
‘hs rut aaah)
ae Hye mo 7
a spoons 1 Sit, |
ua-n land sul ait Gh UNE
ei otras gst ont mae AfP2VIND, NTA
ite seins ary | Diva, ruiteet: Aertik, a
try aed rel. ashon 9 avixensya, te shoal
fu ih wr} sbnng al ooankon cag dt ans
me” ae aincranneteatl ote qntonty aid
- raul fart D ygldto mi. bh poe af) f
iMesh 6. kp aiathgupsne) Taye |
wpurot 5 tt blot grivined xaihe worker an.
Waeun sei ant smagat: Panraiae, be is ’
tha Sault wx per. nicht ‘at tush piatar a
\ jie ie dey oF
» Morbi. anal ade Lacs Louden
LU Tot el ay Pee pg oe ae ee co i: ny tea
jedi gibi rake Rant ote
a elt
:
CONTENTS.
BOOK THE FIRST.
w@uAP. I.—The birth and education of Gil Blas Page 1
HAP. I.—Gil Blas’ alarm on his road to Pegnaflor; his adventures on his ar-
rival in that town; and the character of the men with whom he supped 2
HAP, III.—The muleteer’s temptation on the road ; its consequences, and the
situation of Gil Blas between Scylla and Charybdis 6
_ HAP. IV.—Description of the subterraneous dwelling and its contents 8
guar. V.—The arrival of the banditti in the subterraneous retreat, with an ac-
count of their pleasant conversation 9
_AHaP. VI.—The attempt of Gil Blas to escape, and its success 13
Cuap. VII.—Gil Blas, not being able to do what he likes,doeswhat hecan 15
_eHAP. VIII.—Gil Blas goes out with the gang, and performs an exploit on the
highway 16
_#@HAP. IX.—A more serious incident 17
©HAP. X.—The lady’s treatment from the robbers. The event of the great
design conceived by Gil Blas 19
Cuap. XI.—The history of Donna Mencia de Mosquera 23.
Cuap. XII.—A disagreeable interruption 25
CHAP. XIII.—The lucky means by which Gil Blas escaped from prison, and
' is travels afterwards 27
~~) Cuap, XIV.—Donna Mencia’s reception of him at Burgos 29
AP. XV.—Gil Blas dresses himself to more advantage, and receives a second
- present from the lady. His equipage on setting out from Burgos 31
Cuap. XVI.—Shewing that prosperity will slip through a man’s fingers 33
HAP. XVII.—The measures Gil Blas took after the adventure of the ready-
- furnished lodging 36
xxxii CONTENTS.
BOOK THE SECOND.
\
I.—Fabricio introduces Gil Blas to the licentiate Sédillo, and procures
him a reception. The domestic economy of that clergyman. Picture of his
housekeeper Page 40
wap. II.—The canon’s illness; his treatment; the consequence; the legacy
to Gil Blas 43
,weCHAP, III.—Gil Blas enters into Doctor Sangrado’s service, and becomes a
. famous practitioner 46
Cuap. IV.—Gil Blas goes on practising physic with equal success and ability.
- Adventure of the recovered ring 49
Cuar. V.—Sequel of the foregoing adventure, Gil Blas retires from practice,
and from the neighbourhood of Valladolid 54
Cuap. VI.—Hisroute from Valladolid, with a description of his fellow-traveller 57
Cuap. VII.—The journeyman barber’s story 58
Cuap. VIII.—The meeting of Gil Blas and his companion with a man soaking
crusts of bread at a spring, and the particulars of their conversation 71
Cuap. IX.—The meeting of Diego with his family ; their circumstances in life ;
great rejoicings on the occasion ; the parting scene between himand Gil Blas 73
BOOK THE THIRD.
“ Cuap. I.—The arrival of Gil Blas at Madrid, His first place there 76
Cuap. II.—The astonishment of Gil Blas at meeting Captain Rolando in Ma-
drid; and that robber’s curious narrative 79
__{guar. III.—Gil Blas is dismissed by Don Bernard de Castil Blazo, and enters
into the service of a beau 82
ye Cuapr. IV,—Gil Blas gets into company with his fellows ; they shew hima ready
road to the reputation of wit, and impose on him a singular oath 87
Cuap. V.—Gil Blas becomes the darling of the fair sex, and makes an interest-
ing acquaintance go
#@@uap. VI.—The prince’s company of comedians 94
Cuap. VII.—History of Don Pompeyo de Castro 97
Cuap. VIII.—An accident, in consequence of which Gil Blas was obliged to
look out for another place 100
Cuap. IX.—A new service, after the death of Don Matthias de Silva 103
Cuap. X.—Much such another as the foregoing 105
CONTENTS. xxxiii
weeuap, XI.—A theatrical life and an author’s life Page 107
Cuap. XII.—Gil Blas acquires a relish for the theatre, and takes a full swing ~
of its pleasures, but soon becomes disgusted 109
BOOK THE FOURTH.
HAP. I,—Gil Blas not being able to reconcile himself to the morals of the
actresses, quits Arsenia, and gets into a more reputable service III
pf SPAAP. II.—Aurora’s reception of Gil Blas. Their conversation IIl4
- Cuap, III.—A great change at Don Vincent’s. Aurora's strange resolu-
tion 116
Cuap. IV.—The Fatal Marriage ; a Novel 119
Cuap. V.—The behaviour of Aurora de Guzman on her arrival at Sala-
manca 135
Cuap. VI.—Aurora’s devices to secure Don Lewis Pacheco’s affections I4I
Cuap. VII.—Gil Blas leaves his place, and goes into the service of Don Gon-
zales Pacheco 145
Guar, VIII.—The Marchioness of Chaves : her character, and that of her
company 152
p. IX.—An incident that parted Gil Blas and the Marchioness of Chaves.
‘ The subsequent destination of the former 155
Cuap, X.—The history of Don Alphonso and the fair Seraphina 157
Cuap. XI.—The old hermit turns out an extraordinary genius, and Gil Blas
finds himself among his former acquaintance 165
BOOK THE FIFTH,
Cuap. I.—History of Don Raphael 168
Cuap. II.—Don Raphael’s consultation with his company, and their adventures
as they were preparing to leave the wood “ 208
BOOK THE SIXTH.
Cuap. I.—The fate of Gil Blas and his companions after they took leave of the
Count de Polan. One of Ambrose’s notable contrivances set off by the man-
ner of its execution 211
Cuap, II.—The determination of Don Alphonso and Gil Blas, after this adven-
ture 217
XXXiVv CONTENTS.
Cuap. III.—An unfortunate occurrence, which terminated to the high delight
of Don Alphonso. Gil Blas meets with an adventure which places him all
at once in a very superior situation Page 219
BOOK THE SEVENTH.
Cuap, I.—The tender attachment between Gil Blas and Dame Lorenza Se-
phora 220
geCuap. II,—What happened to Gil Blas after his retreat from the Castle of
Leyva, shewing that those who are crossed in love are not always the most
miserable of mankind. 226
Cuap. II.—Gil Blas becomes the archbishop’s favourite, and the channel of
all his favours 229
_eeh HAP. IV, —The archbishop is afflicted with a stroke of apoplexy. How Gil
\
5
\
Blas gets into a dilemma, and how he géts out 233
Cuap. V.—The course which Gil Blas took after the archbishop had given him
his dismissal. His accidental meeting with the licentiate who was so deeply
in his debt ; and a picture of gratitude in the person of a parson 235
Cuap. VI.—Gil Blas goes to the play at Grenada. His surprise at seeing one
of the actresses, and what happened thereupon 237
Cuap. VII,—Laura’s story 241
Cuap. VIII.—The reception of Gil Blas among the players at Grenada ; and
another old acquaintance picked up in the green-room 249
Cuap. 1X.—An extraordinary companion at supper, and an account of their
conversation , 251
Cuap. X.—The Marquis de Marialva gives a commission to Gil Blas. That
faithful secretary acquits himself of it as shall be related 252
Cuap. XI.—A thunderbolt to Gil Blas 254
CuHap. XII.—Gil Blas takes lodgings in a ready-furnished house. He gets ac-
quainted with Captain Chinchilla. That officer’s character and business at
Madrid 256
ee HAP. XIII. —Gil Blas comes across his dear friend Fabricio at court. Great
ecstasy on both sides. They adjourn together, and compare notes ; but their
conversation is too curious to be anticipated 260
Cuap. XIV.—Fabricio finds a situation for Gil Blas in the establishment of
Count Galiano, a Sicilian nobleman 266
Cuap. XV.—The employment of Gil Blas in Don Galiano’s household. 268
CuHapr. XVI.—An accident happens to the Count de Galiano’s monkey ; his
lordship’s affliction on that occasion. The illness of Gil Blas, and its conse-
quences 271
CONTENTS. XXXV
BOOK THE EIGHTH.
Cuap. I.—Gil Blas scrapes an acquaintance of some value, and finds where-
withal to make him amends for the Count de Galiano’s ingratitude. Don
Valerio de Luna’s story Page 276
Cuap. II.—Gil Blas is introduced to the Duke of Lerma, who admits him
among the number of his secretaries, and requires a specimen of his talents,
with which he is well satisfied 279
Cuap. III.—All is not gold that glitters. Some uneasiness resulting from the
discovery of that principle in philosophy, and its practical application to
existing circumstances 281
Cuap. IV.—Gil Blas becomes a favourite with the Duke of Lerma, and the
confidant of an important secret 284
Cuap, V.—The joys, the honours, and the miseries of a court life, in the per-
son of Gil Blas 285 »
Cuap. VI.—Gil Blas gives the Duke of Lerma a hint of his wretched condi-
tion. That minister deals with him accordingly 287
Cuap. VII.—A good use made of the fifteen hundred ducats. A first intro-
duction to the trade of office, and an account of the profit accruing there-
from 290
Cuap. VIII.—History of Don Roger de Rada 291
PF tiens IX.—Gil Blas makes a large fortune in a short time, and behaves like
other wealthy upstarts 295
HAP, X.—The morals of Gil Blas become at court much as if they had never
been at all. A commission from the Count de Lemos, which, like most
court commissions, implies an intrigue 299
Cuap. XI.—The Prince of Spain’s secret visit, and presents to Catalina 303
Cuap. XII.—Catalina’s real condition a worry and alarm to Gil Blas. His
precautions for his own ease and quiet 305
HAP. XIII.—Gil Blas goes on personating the great man. He hears news
of his family: a touch of nature on the occasion. A grand quarrel with
Fabricio 307
BOOK THE NINTH.
Cuap. I.—Scipio’s scheme of marriage for Gil Blas. The match, a rich gold-
smith’s daughter. Circumstances connected with this speculation 309
Cuap. II.—In the progress of political vacancies, Gil Blas recollects that there
is such a man in the world as Don Alphonso de‘ Leyva, and renders him a
service from motives of vanity 31r
XXx Vi CONTENTS.
HAP, III.—Preparations for the marriage of Gil Blas. A spoke in the wheel
et pa
of Hymen Page 313
Cuap. IV.—The treatment of Gil Blas in the tower of Segovia. The cause of
his imprisonment 314
Cuap. V.—His reflections before he went to sleep that night, and the noise
that waked him 316
Cuap. VI,—History of Don Gaston de Cogollos and Donna Helena de
Galisteo 318
Cuap. VII.—Scipio finds Gil Blas out in the tower of Segovia, and brings
him a budget of news 325
oeCHAP. VIII.—Scipio’s first journey to Madrid: its objectand success. Gil Blas
falls sick. The consequence of his illness 327
Cuap. IX.—Scipio’s second journey to Madrid. Gil Blas is set at liberty on
certain conditions, Their departure from the tower of sine and convers-
ation on their journey 329
ge CHAP, X.—Their doings at Madrid. The rencounter of Gil Blas in the street,
and its consequences 331
BOOK THE TENTH.
Cuap. I.—Gil Blas sets out for the Asturias, and passes through Valladolid,
where he goes to see his old master, Doctor Sangrado. By accident he comes
across Signor Manuel Ordonnez, governor of the hospital 333
peng II.—Gil Blas continues his journey, and arrives in safety at Oviedo, The
condition of his family. His father’s death, and its consequences 338
e7Cuap. III.—Gil Blas sets out for Valencia, and arrives at Lirias; description
of his seat; the particulars of his reception, and the characters of the inha-
bitants he found there 343
Cuap. IV.—A journey to Valencia, and a visit to the lords of Leyva. The
conversation of the gentlemen, and Seraphina’s demeanour 346
Cuap. V.—Gil Blas goes to the play, and sees a new tragedy. The success of
the piece. The public taste at Valencia 348
Cuap. VI.—Gil Blas, walking about the streets of Valencia, meets with a man
of sanctity, whose pious face he has seen somewhere else. What sort of man
this man of sanctity turns out to be 351
Cuap. VII.—Gil Blas returns to his seat at Lirias. Scipio’s.agreeable intelli-
gence, and a reform in the domestic arrangements 354
Cuap. VIII.—The loves of Gil Blas and the fair Antonia — 356
Cuap. IX.—Nuptials of Gil Blas with the fair Antonia ; the style and manner
_ of the ceremony ; the persons assisting thereat ; and the festivities ensuing
thereupon 359
CONTENTS. XXXVii
'Cuap. X.—The honeymoon (a very dull time for the reader as a third person)
enlivened by the commencement of Scipio’s story Page 363
.Cuap, XI.—Continuation of Scipio’s story 375
Cuap. XII.—Conclusion of Scipio’s story 382
'BOOK THE ELEVENTH.
Cuap. I.—Containing the subject of the greatest joy that Gil Blas ever felt,
followed up, as our greatest pleasures too generally are, by the most melan-
choly event of his life. Great changes at court, producing, among other im-
portant revolutions, the return of Santillane 392
Cuap. II.—Gil Blas arrives in Madrid, and makes his appearance at court; the
king is blessed with a better memory than most of his courtiers, and recom-_
mends him to the notice of his prime minister. Consequences of that re-
commendation 395.
Cuap, III.—The project of retirement is prevented, and Joseph Navarro brought
upon the stage again, by an act of signal service 398
Cuap. IV.—Gil Blas ingratiates himself with the Count of Olivarez 399
Cuap. V.—The private conversation of Gil Blas with Navarro, and his first em-
ployment in the service of the Count d’Olivarez 401
Cuap. VI.—The application of the three hundred pistoles, and Scipio’s com-
mission connected with them. Success of the state paper mentioned in the
last chapter 404
_gRHAP, VII.—Gil Blas meets with his friend Fabricio once more ; the accident,
place, and circumstances described, with the particulars of their conversation
together 406
Cuap, VIII.—Gil Blas gets forward progressively in his master’s affections.
Scipio’s return to Madrid, and account of his journey 408
Cuap. [X.—How my lord duke married his only daughter, and to whom, with
the bitter consequences of that marriage 410
ye CuaP. X.—Gil Blas meets with the poet Nunez by accident, and learns that he
has written a tragedy, which is on the point of being brought out at the
theatre royal. The ill fortune of the piece, and the good fortune of its
author 4Il
Cuap. XI.—Santillane gives Scipio a situation ; the latter sets out for New
Spain 413
Cuap. XII.—Don Alphonso de Leyva comes to Madrid ; the motive of his
journey a severe affliction to Gil Blas, and a cause of rejoicing subsequent
thereon 415
Cuap, XIII.—Gil Blas meets Don Gaston de Cogollos and Don Andrew de
XXXViil CONTENTS.
Tordesillas at the drawing-room, and adjourns with them to a more convenient
place. The story of Don Gaston and Donna Helena de Galisteo concluded.
Santillane renders some service to Tordesillas Page 417
Cuap. XIV.—Santillane’s visit to poet Nunez, the company and conversation 420
BOOK THE TWELFTH.
Cuap. I.—Gil Blas sent to Toledo by the minister. The purpose of his
journey and its success 421
Cuap, II.—Santillane makes his report to the minister, who commissions him
to send for Lucretia, The first appearance of that actress before the
court 425
Cuap. III.—Lucretia’s popularity, her appearance before the king, his passion,
and its consequences 426
Cuap. IV.—Santillane in a new office 428
Cuap, V.—The son of the Genoese is acknowledged by a legal instrument, and
named Don Henry Philip de Guzman. Santillane establishes his household,
and arranges the course of his studies 429
Cuap. VI.—Scipio’s return from New Spain. Gil Blas places him about Don
, Henry’s person. That young nobleman’s course of study. His career of
honour, and his father’s matrimonial speculation on his behalf. A patent of
nobility conferred on Gil Blas against his will 430
CuHap. VII.—An accidental meeting between Gil Blas and Fabricio, Their
last conversation together, and a word to the wise from Nunez 432
Cuap, VIIL—Gil Blas finds that Fabricio’s hint was not without foundation.
The king’s journey to Saragossa 433
Cuap. IX.—The revolution of Portugal, and disgrace of the prime min-
ister 434
Cuap. X.—A difficult, but successful, weaning from the world. The minister’s
employment in his retreat 435
Cuap. XI.—A change in his lordship for the worse. The marvellous cause,
and melancholy consequences, of his dejection 436
Cuap. XII.—The proceedings at the castle of Loeches after his lordship’s
death, and the course which Santillane adopted 438
CHAP. XIII.—The return of Gil Blas to his seat. His joy at finding his god-
daughter Seraphina marriageable ; and his own second venture in the lottery
of love 439
Cuap, XIV.—A double marriage, and the conclusion of the history 440
HISTORY OF GIL BLAS
OF SANTILLANE.
BOOK THE FIRST.
CHAPTER. I.—TZhe birth and education of Gil Blas.
My father, Blas of Santillane, after having borne arms for a long time in the
Spanish service, retiredto his native place. There he married a chamber-maid
who was not exactly in her teens, and I made my début on this stage ten
months after marriage. They afterwards went to live at Oviedo, where my
mother got into service, and my father obtained a situation equally adapted to
his capacities as a squire. As their wages were their fortune, I might have got
my education as I could, had it not been for an uncle of mine in the town,
a canon, by name Gil Per He was my mother’s eldest brother, and my god-
father. Figure to yours a little fellow, three feet and a half high, as fat as you
can conceive, with a head sunk deep between his shoulders, and you have my
uncle to the life. For the rest of his qualities, he was an ecclesiastic, and of
course thought of nothing but good living, I mean in the flesh as well as in the
spirit, with the means of which good living his stall, no lean one, provided
him.
He took me home to his own house from my infancy, and ran the risk of my
bringing up. I struck him as so brisk a lad, that he resolved to cultivate my
talents. He bought mea primer, and undertook my tuition as far as reading
went : which was not amiss for himself as well as for me; since by teaching '
me my letters he brushed up his own learning, which had not been pursued in
a very scholastic manner ; and, by dint of application, he got at last to read his
breviary out of hand, which he had never been able to do before. He would .
have been very glad to have taught me Latin, to save expense, but, alas! poor ~
Gil Perez! had never skimmed the first principles of it in the whole course
of his life. | I should not wonder if he was the most ignorant member of the
chapter, though on a subject involving as many possibilities as there were
canons, I presume not to pledge myself for anything like certainty, To be
sure, I have heard it suggested, that he did not gain his preferment altogether
by his learning: but that he owed it exclusively to the gratitude of some good
nuns whose discreet factor he had been, and who had credit enough to procure
him the order of priesthood without the troublesome ceremony of an examin-
atio
obliged therefore to place me under the correction of a master, so
that I was sent to Doctor Godinez, who had the reputation of being the most
On
- *
ei &
c te i. #ér t . 7 ‘
PE UNS Macias GIL BLAS.
t r -
4 < « " PAL ean ee .
-< all ante ."
accomplished pedant of Oviedo. I profited so well under his instructions, that
by the end of five or six years I could read a Greek author or two, and had no
very inadequate conception of the Latin poets. Besides my classical studies, I
applied to logic, which enabled me to become an pee arguer. I now fell in
love with discussions of all kinds to such an excess, that I stopped his Majesty’s
subjects on the high road, acquaintance or strangers, no matter! and proposed
some knotty point of controversy. | Sometimes I fell in with a clan of Irish, and
an altercation never comes amiss to them! That was your time, if you are fond
of a battle. Such gestures! such grimaces! such contortions! Our eyes
sparkling, and our mouths foaming! Those who did not take us for what we
affected to be, philosophers, must have set us down for madme
‘But let that be as it will, I gained the reputation of no small learning in the
town. My uncle was delighted, because he prudently considered that I should
so much the sooner cease to be chargeable to him. Come here, Gil Blas,
quoth he one day, you are got to be a fine fellow. You are past seventeen, and
a clever lad ; you must bestir yourself, and get forward in the world. “T think
of sending you to the university of Salamanca : with your wit you will easily
get a good post. I will give you a few ducats for your journey, and my mule,
which will fetch ten or twelve pistoles at Salamanca, and with such a sum at
setting out, you will be enabled to hold up your head till you get a situation.
He could not have proposed to me anything more agreeable : for I was dying
to see a little of life. At the same time, I was not such.a fool as to betray my
satisfaction ; and when it came to the hour of parting, by the sensibility I dis-
covered at taking leave of my dear uncle, to whom I was so much obliged, and
by calling in the stage effect of grief, I so softened the good soul, that he put
his hand deeper into his pocket than he would have done, could he have pried
into all that was passing in the interior of my hypocritical little heart. Before
my departure I took a last leave of my papa and mamma, who loaded me with
an ample inheritance of good advice. They enjoined me to pray to God for
=f uncle, to go honestly through the world, not to engage in any ill, and above
all, not to lay my hands on other people’s property. After they had lectured
me for a good while, they made me a present of their blessing, which was all
my patrimony and all my expectation. As soon as I had received it, I mounted
my mule, and saw the outside of the town.
Cu. Il.—Gil Blas alarm on his road to Pegnaflor ; his adventures on his arrival
in that town ; and the character of the men with whom he supped.
HERE I am, then, on the other side of Oviedo, on the road to Pegnaflor, with
the world before me, as yet my own master, as well as master of:a bad mule
and forty good ducats, without reckoning on a little suwpplemen cash pur-
loined from my much-honoured uncle. The first thing I did was to let my mule
go as the beast liked, that is to say, very lazily. 1 dropped the rein, and taking
out my ducats, began to count them backwards and forwards in my hat. I
was out of my wits for joy, never having seen such a sum of money before, and
could not help looking at it and sifting it through my fingers. I had counted
it over about the twentieth time, when all at once my mule, with head raised,
and ears pricked up, stood stock still in the middle of the high road. I thought,
to be sure, something was the matter ; looked about for a cause, and perceiving
a hat upon the ground, with a rosary of large beads, at the same time heard a
lugubrious voice pronounce these words : , honoured master, have pity on
a poor maimed soldier! Please to throw a few small pieces into this hat ; you
shall be rewarded for it in the other world. I looked immediately on the side
whence the voice proceeded, and saw, just by a thicket, twenty or thirty paces
ADVENTURES AT PEGNAFLOR. 3
from me, a sort of a soldier; who had mounted the barrel of a confounded
long carbihe on two cross sticks, and seemed to be taking aim at me. Ata
sight which made me tremble for the patrimony of the Church committed to
‘my care, I stopped short, made sure of my ducats, and taking out a little small
change, as I rode by the hat, placed to receive the charity of those quiet sub-
jects who had not the courage to refuse it, dropped in my contribution in detail,
to convince the soldier how nobly I dealt by him. He was satisfied with my
liberality, and gave me a blessing for every kick I gave my mule in my impa-
tience to get out of his way ; but the infernal beast, without partaking in the
slightest degree of my impatience, went at the old steady pace. A long custom
of jogging on fair and softly under my uncle’s weight had obliterated every idea
of that motion called a gallop.
The prospect of my journey was not much improved by this adventure as a
specimen. I considered within myself that I had yet some distance to Sala-
manca, and might, not improbably, meet with something worse. My uncle
seemed to have been very imprudent not to have consigned me to the care of a
muleteer. ‘That, to be sure, was what he ought to have done; but his notion
was, that by giving me his mule, my journey would be cheaper ; and that
entered more into his calculation than the dangers in which I might be involved
on the road. To retrieve his error, therefore, I resolved, if I had the good luck
to arrive safe at Pegnaflor, to offer my mule for sale, and take the opportunity
of a muleteer going to Astorga, whence I might get to Salamanca by a similar
conveyance. ‘Though I had never been out of Oviedo I was acquainted with
the names of the towns through which I was to pass ; a species of information
I took care to procure before my setting ont
got safe and sound to Pegnaflor, and stopped at the door of a very decent-
ooking inn. \My foot was*Scartely out of the stirrup before the landlord was
at my side, overwhelming me with public-house civility. He untied my cloak-
bag with his own hands, swung it across his shoulders, and ushered my Honour
into a room, while one of his men led my mule to the stable. This landlord,
the most busy prattler of the Asturias, ready to bother you impertinently about
his own concerns, and, at the same time, with a sufficient portion of curiosity to
worm himself into the knowledge of yours, was not long in telling me that his
name was Andrew Corcuelo ; that he had seen some service as a sergeant in the
army, which he had quitted fifteen months ago, and married a girl of Castropol,
who, though a little tawny or so, knew how to make both ends meet as well as
the best of them. He told mea thousand things besides which he might just
as well have kept private. Thinking himself entitled, after this voluntary con-
fidence, to an equal share of mine, he asked me in a breath, and without further
preface, whence-I came, whither I was going, and who I was. To all this I
felt myself bound to answer, article by article, because, though rather abrupt
in asking them, he accompanied each question with so apologetic a bow,
beseeching me with so submissive a grimace not to be offended at his curiosity,
that I was drawn in to gratify it whether I would or no. Thus by degrees did
we get into a long conversation, in the course of which I took occasion to hint
that I had some reasons for wishing to get rid of my mule, and travel under
convoy of a muleteer. He seemed on the whole to approve of my plan, though
he could not prevail with himself to tell me so briefly ; for he introduced his
remarks by descanting on all the possible and probable mischances to which
travellers are liable on the road, not omitting an awkward story now and then.
I thought the fellow would never have done. But the conclusion of the argu-
ment was, that if I wanted to sell my mule, he knew an honest jockey who
would take it off myhands. I begged he would do me the favour to fetch him,
which was no sooner said than done,
1*
4
4 GIL BLAS.
On hisreturn he introduced the purchaser, with a high encomium on his integrity.
We all three went into the and the mule was brought out to show paces
before the jockey, who set himself to examine the beast from head to foot. Tis
report was bad enough. To be sure, it would not have been easy to make a
good one ; but if it had been the pope’s mule, and this fellow was to cheapen
the bargain, it would have been just the same: nay, to speak with all due
reverence, if he had been asked to give an opinion of the pope’s great toe, from
that disparaging habit of his, he would have pores it no better than the
toe of any ordinary man. He laid it down, therefore, as a principle, that the
mule had all the defects a mule could have: appealing to the landlord for a
confirmation of his judgment, who, doubtless, had reasons of his own for not
controverting his friend’s assertion. Well! says the jockey, with an air of in-
difference, What price have you the conscience to ask for this devil of an ani-
mal? After such a panegyric, and master Corcuelo’s certificate, whom I was
fool enough to take for a fair-dealing man and a good judge of horse-flesh, they.
might have had the mule for nothing. I therefore told the dealer that I threw
myself on his mercy: he must fix his own sum, and I should expect no more.
On this he began to affect the gentleman, and answered that I had found out
his weak side when I left it to his honour. He was right enough in that ! ‘his
honour was his weak side! for instead of bidding up to my uncle’s estimate of
ten or twelve pistoles, the rascal had the impudence to offer three ducats, which
I accepted with as light a heart as if I had got the best of the bargain. . -
Having disencumbered myself ‘of my mule in so tradesmanlike @ manner, I
went with my landlord to a carrier who was to set out early the next motning
for Astorga, and engaged to call me up in time. When we had settled the hire
of the mule, as well as the expenses on the road, I turned back towards the inn
with Corcuelo, who, as we went along, iP into the private history of this mule-
teer. When I had been pestered with all the tittle-tattle of the town about this
fellow, the changes were just beginning to ring on some new subject ; but, by
good luck, a pretty-looking sort of a man very civilly interrupted my loquacious
friend. I left them together, and sauntered on without the slightest suspicion of
being at all concerned in their disco
I ordered supper as soon as I gottothginn. Itwasafishday: but I thought
eggs were better suited to my finances. hile they were getting ready I joined.
in conversation with the landlady, whom I had not seen before. She seemed a
pretty piece of goods enough, and such a stirring body, that I should have con-
tom) her husband had not told me so, her tavern must have plenty of cus-
tom. } The moment the omelet was served up I sat down to table by myself,
and had scarcely got the relish of it, when my landlord walked in, followed by
the man who had stopped him in the street. This pleasant gentleman wore a
long rapier, and might, perhaps, be about thirty years of age. _He came up to
me in the most friendly manner possible. Mr Professor, says he, I have just
now heard that you are the renowned Gil Blas of Santillane, that ornament of
Oviedo and luminary of philosophy. And do my eyes behold that very greatest
of all great scholars and wits, whose reputation has run hither so fast before
him? Little do you think, continues he, directing his discourse to the landlord
and landlady, little do you imagine, I say, what good luck has befallen you.
Why, you have got hold of a treasure. In this young gentleman you behold
the eighth wonder of the world. Then running up and throwing his arms about
my neck, Excuse me, added he; but worlds would not bribe me to suppress
the rapturous emotions your honoured presence has excited.
I could not answer him so glibly as I wished, not so much for want of words
as of breath ; for he hugged me so tight that I began to be alarmed for my wind-
pipe. As soon, however, as I had got my head out of durance, I replied, Sig-
ar)
——
DUPED BY A PARASITE. 5
nor cavalier, I had not the least conception that my name was known at Penag-
flor. Known? resumed he in the same pompous style ; we keep a register of
all great persons within a circuit of twenty leagues round us. You have the
character of a prodigy here ; and I have not a shadow of doubt, but one day or
other Spain will be as proud of numbering you among her rare productions, as
Greece of having given birth to her seven wise men, is fine speech was fol-
lowed as before ; and I really began to think that with all my classical honours
I should at last be doomed to share the fate of Antzeus.f If I had been master
of ever so little experience, I should not have been thie*dupe of his rhodomon-
tade. I must have discovered him by his outrageous compliments, to be one of
those parasites who swarm in every town, and get into a stranger’s company on
his arrival, to appease the wolf in their stomachs at his expense ; but my youth
and vanity tempted me to draw a quite opposite conclusion. \ My admirer was
very clever in my eyes, and I asked him to supper on the strength of it. Oh!
most willingly, cried he: with all my heart and soul. My fortunate star pre-
dominates, now that I have the honour of being in company with the illustrious
Gil Blas of Santillane, and I shall certainly make the most of my good fortune
as long as it lasts. My appetite is rather delicate, but I will just sit down with
you by way of being sociable, and if I can swallow a bit! only just not to look
sulky ; for we philosophers are careless of the body.
These words were no sooner out of his mouth, than my panegyrist took his
seat opposite tome. A cover was laid for him in due form and order. First
he fell on the omelet with as much perseverance as if he had not tasted food for
three whole days. By the complacency with which he eyed it I was morally
certain the poor pancake was at death’s door. I therefore ordered its heir-
apparent to succeed ; and the business was despatched with such speed, that
the second made its appearance on the table, just as we ;—no :—I beg pardon ;
“just as he had taken the last lick of its predecessor. He pressed forward the
main business, however, with a diligence and activity proportioned to the im-
portance of the object he had in view: so that he contrived to load me with
panegyric on panegyric, without losing a single stroke in the progress of masti-
cation. Now all this gave me no slender conceit of my pretty little self When
a man eats, he must drink. The first toast of course was my health. The
second, in common civility, was my father and mother, whose happiness in
having such an angel of a son, he could not sufficiently envy or admire. All
this while he kept filling my glass, and challenging me to keep pace with him.
It was impossible to be backward in doing justice to such excellent toasts and
sentiments : the compliments with which they were seasoned did not come
amiss ; so that I got into such a convivial mood, at observing our second ome-
let to disappear not insensibly, as just to ask the landlordif he could not find us
a little bit of fish. Master Corcuelo, who to all appearance played booty with the
parasite, told me he had an excellent trout ; but those who eat him must pay
for him. I am afraid he is meat for your masters. Meat for our masters!
exclaims my very humble servant in an angry tone of voice: that is more than
you know, my friend. Are you yet to learn that the best of your larder is not
too good for the renowned Gil Blas of Santillane? Go where he will, he is fit
able with princes.
‘Eves very glad that he took up the landlord’s last expression ; because if he
had not, I should. I {elt myself a little hurt at it, and said to Corcuelo with
some degree of hauteur § Produce this trout of yours, and I will take the con-
sequences, The lan , who had got just what he wanted, set himself to
work, and served it up in high order. At the first glance of this third course I
saw such pleasure sparkling in the parasite’s eyes, as proved him to be of a very
complying temper ; just as ready to do a kindness by the fish, as by those said
at
6 : GIL BLAS.
eggs of which he had given so good an account. But at last he was obliged to
Jay down his arms for fear of accidents ; as his magazine was crammed tothe |
very throat. Having eat and drank his fill, he bethought him of putting a
finishing hand to the farce. Master Gil Blas, said he, as he rese from the table,
I am too well pleased with my princely entertainment to leave you without a
word of advice, of which you seem to stand in much need. From this time -
forward be on your guard against extravagant praise. Do not trust men till you
know them. You may meet with many another man, who, like me, may amuse
himself at your expense, and perhaps carry the joke a little further. But donot
you be taken in a second time, to believe yourself, on the word of such fellows,
oe, the eighth wonder of the world. With this sting in the tail of his farewell
“\” speech he very coolly took his leave.
> (eg was as much alive to so ridiculous a circumstance, as I have ever been in ~
alter-life to the most severe mortifications. I did not know how to reconcile
myself to the idea of having been so egregiously taken in, or, in fact, to lowering
of my pride. So, so! quoth I, this rascal has been putting his tricks upon
travellers, has he? Then he only wanted to pump my landlord! or more likely
they were both in a story. Ah! my poor Gil Blas, thou hadst better hide thy
silly head! To have suffered such knaves as these to turn thee into ridicule! A
pretty story they will make of this! It is sure to travel back to Oviedo ; and
will give our friends a hopeful prospect of thy success in life. The family will
be quite delighted to think what a blessed harvest all their pious advice has pro-
duced, There was no occasion to preach up morals to thee; for verily thou
hast more of the dupe than the sharper in thy composition. Ready to tear my
eyes out or bite my fingers off from spite and vexation, I locked myself up in my
chamber and went to bed, but not to sleep; of which I had not got a wink
when the muleteer came to tell me, that he only waited for me to set out on his
journey. I got up as expeditiously as I could ; and while I was dressing Cor-
cuelo put in his appearance, with a little bill in his hand ;—a slight memorandum
of the trout !—But paying through the nose was not the worst of it; for I had
the vexation to perceive, that while I was counting over the cost, this hang-dog
was chuckling at the recollection of the night before. ve been fleeced most
shamefully for a supper, which stuck in my stomach though I had scarcely come
in for a morsel of it, I joined the muleteer with my baggage, giving to as many
devils as there are saints in the calendar, the parasite, the landlord, and the inn.
Cu. Il].—Z%e muleteers temptation on the road ; its consequences, and thé
situation of Gil Blas between Scylla and Charybdis.
I was not the only passenger. There were two young gentlemen of Pegnaflor ;
a little chorister of Mondognedo, who was travelling about the country, and a
young tradesman of Astorga, returning home from Verco with his new-married
wife. We soon got acquainted, and exchanged the usual confidence of travel-
lers, telling one another whence we came and whither we were going. The
bride was young enough ; but so dark-complexioned, with so little of what a
man likes to look at in a woman, that I did not think her worth the trouble.
But she had youth and a good crummy person on her side, and the muleteer, ,
being rather less nice in his taste, was resolved to try if he could not get into
her good graces. ‘This pretty project occupied his ingenuity during the whole
day ; but he deferred the execution till we should get to Cacabelos, the last
place where we were to stop on the road. We alighted at an inn in the out-
skirts of the town, a quiet convenient place, with a landlord who never trou-
bled himself about other people’s concerns. We were ushered into a private
room, and got our supper snugly : but just as the cloth was taken away in comes
THE MULETEERS TRICK AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 7
our carrier in a furious passion :—Death and the devil! I have been robbed.
Here had I a hundred pistoles in my purse! But I will have them back again.
I am going for a magistrate ;—and those gentry will not take a joke upon such
serious subjects. You will all be put to the rack, unless you confess, and give
back the money. The fellow played his part very naturally, and burst out of
the room, leaving us in a terrible fright.
We had none of us the least suspicion of the trick, and being all strangers,
were afraid of one another. I looked askance at the little chorister, and he,
perhaps, had no better opinion of me. Besides, we were all a pack of green-
horns, and were quite unacquainted with the routine of business on these occa-
sions. We were fools enough to believe that the torture would be the very
first stage of our examination. With this dread upon our spirits, we all made
for the door. Some effected their escape into the street, others into the
garden: but the whole party preferred the discretion of running away to the
valour of standing their ground. The young tradesman of Astorga had as
great an objection to bone-twisting as the rest of us: so he did as Eneas, and
many another good husband has done before him ;—ran away and left his wife
behind. At that critical moment the muleteer, as I was told afterwards, who
had not half so much sense of decency as his own mules, delighted at the suc-
cess of his stratagem, began moving his motives to the citizen’s wife: but this .
Lucrece of the Asturias, borrowing the chastity of a saint from the ugliness of
the devil who tempted her, defended her sweet person tooth and nail; and
showed she was in earnest about it by the noise she made. The patrol, who hap-
pened to be passing by the inn at the time, and knew that the neighbourhood
required a little looking after, took the liberty of just asking the cause of the
disturbance. The landlord, who was trying if he could not sing in the kitchen .
louder than she could scream in the parlour, and swore he heard no music but
his own, was at last obliged to introduce the myrmidons of the police to the
distressed lady, just in time to rescue her from the necessity of a surrender at
discretion. The head officer, a coarse fellow, without an atom of feeling for
the tender passion, no sooner saw the game that was playing, than he gave the
amorous muleteer five or six blows with the butt end of his halberd, representing
to him the indecency of his conduct in terms quite as offensive to modesty as
the naughty propensity which had called forth his virtuous indignation. Neither
did he stop here ; but laid hold of the culprit, and carried plaintiff and defend-
ant before the magistrate. The former, with her charms all heightened by the
discomposure of her dress, went eagerly to try their effect in obtaining justice
for the outrage they had sustained. His Worship heard at least one party ;
and after solemn deliberation pronounced the offence to be of a most heinous
nature. He ordered him to be stripped, and to receive a competent number
of lashes in his presence. The conclusion of the sentence was, that if the
Endymion of our Asturian Diana was not forthcoming the next day, a couple
of guards should escort the disconsolate goddess to the town of Astorga, at the
expense of this mule-driving Acteon.
or my part, being probably more terrified than the rest of the party, I got
into the fields, scampering over hedge and ditch, through enclosures and across
commons, till I found myself hard by a forest. I was just going for conceal-
ment to ensconce myself in the very heart of the thicket, when two men on
horseback rode across me, crying, Who goes there? As my alarm prevented me
from giving them an immediate answer, they came to close quarters, and hold-
ing each of them a pistol to my throat, required me to give an account of
myself; who I was, whence I came, what business I had in that forest, and
above all, not to tell a lie about it. Their rough interrogatives were, according
to my notion, little better than the rack with which our friend the muleteer had
8 GIL BLAS.
offered to treat us. I represented myself however as a young man on my way
from Oviedo to Salamanca; told the story of our late fright, and faithfully
attributed my running away in such a hurry to the dread of a worse exercise
under the torture. They burst into an immoderate fit of laughter at my sim-
plicity ; and one of them said: Take heart, my little friend ; come along with
us, and do not be afraid ; we will put you in a place where the devil shall not
find you. At these words, he took me up behind him, and we darted into
the forest.
I did not know what to think of this odd meeting ; yet on the whole I could
not well be worse off than before. If these gentry, thought I to myself, had
been thieves, they would have robbed, and p90 murdered me. Depend on
it, they are a couple of good honest country gentlemen in this neighbourhood,
who, seeing me frightened, have taken compassion on me, and mean to
me home with them and make me comfortable. But these visions did not last
long. After turning and winding backward and forward in deep silence, we
found ourselves at the foot of a hill, where we dismounted. This is our abode,
said one of these sequestered gentlemen. I looked about in all directions, bit
the deuce a bit of either house or cottage: not a vestige of human habitation !
The two men in the mean time raised a Es wooden trap, covered with earth
and briars, to conceal the entrance of a long shelving passage under-ground, to
which from habits the poor beasts took very kindly of their own accord. Their
masters kept tight hold of me, and let the trap down after them. Thus was
the worthy nephew of my uncle Perez caught, just for all the world as you
would catch a rat.
Cu. IV.—Description of the subterraneous dwelling and its contents.
I Now knew into what company I had fallen; and I leave it to any one to
judge whether the discovery must not have rid me of my former fear. A dread
more mighty and more just now seized my iaculties. Money and life, all given
up for lost! With the air of a victim on his passage to the altar did I walk,
more dead than alive, between my two conductors, who finding that I trembled,
frightened me so much the more by telling me not to be afraid. When we had
gone two hundred paces, winding down a declivity all the way, we got into
a stable lighted by two large iron lamps suspended from the vault above.
There was a good store of straw, and several casks of hay and corn with room
enough jor twenty horses: but at that time there were only the two which
came with us. An old negro, who seemed for his years in pretty good case,
was tying them to the rack where they were to feed.
We went out ofthe stable. By the melancholy light of some other lamps,
which only served to dress up horror in its native colours, we arrived at a kitchen
where an old harridan was broiling some steaks on the coals, and getting
supper ready. The kitchen furniture was better than might be ed, an
the pantry provided in a very plentiful manner. The lady of the larder’s picture
is worth drawing. Considerably on the wrong side of sixty!—JIn her youth
her hair had been of a fiery red; though she would have called it poston *
Time had indeed given it the fairer tint of grey ; but a lock of more you
hue, interspersed at intervals, produced all the variegated effect of the admired
autumnal shades. To say nothing of an olive complexion, she had an enor-
mous chin turning up, an immense nose turning down, with a mouth in the
middle, modestly retiring inwards, to make room for its encroaching neigh-
bours. Red eyes are no beauty in any animal but a ferret ;—hers were purple. >—
Here, dame Leonarda, said one of the horsemen as he presented me to this ~
angelic imp of darkness, we have brought you a young lad. Then looking
his le
THE SUBTERRANEOUS DWELLING. ie
round, and observing me to be miserably pale, Pluck up your spirits, my friend ;
you shall come to noharm. We want a scullion, and have met with you.
You are a lucky dog! We had a boy who died about a fortnight ago: you
shall succeed to the preferment. He was rather too delicate for his place.
"You seem a good stout fgllow, and may live a week or two longer. We find
you in bed and board, coal and candle; but as for day-light, you will never
see that again. Your leisure hours will pass off very agreeably with Leonarda,
who is really a very good creature, and tolerably tender-hearted ; you will have
all your little comforts about you. I flatter myself you have not got among
beggars. At this moment the thief seized a flambeau ; and as I feared, ‘‘ with
zeal to destroy ;” for he ordered me to follow him.
He took me into a cellar, where I saw a great number of bottles and earthen
pots full of excellent wine. He then made me cross several rooms. In some
were pieces of cloth piled up ; in others, stuffs and silks. As we passed through
I could not help casting a sheep’s eye at the gold and silver plate peeping out
of the different cupboards. After that, I followed him into a great hall illumin-
ated by three copper lustres, and serving as a gallery between the other rooms.
Here he put fresh questions tome ; asking my name :—why I left Oviedo ;—and
when I had satisfied his curiosity: Well, Gil Blas, said he, since your only motive
for quitting your native place was to get into something snug and eligible, to be
sure you must have been born to good luck, or you would not have fallen into
our hands. I tell you once for all, you will live here on the fat of the land,
and may souse over head and ears in ready money. Besides, you are ina place
of perfect safety. The officers of the holy brotherhood might pass through the
forest a hundred times without discovering our subterraneous abode. The
entrance is only known to myself and my comrades. You may perhaps ask how
it came to be contrived, without being perceived by the inhabitants in the neigh-
bourhood. But you are to understand, my friend, that it was made long ago, and
is no work of ours. After the Moors had made themselves masters of Granada,
of Ayfagon, and nearly the whole of Spain, the Christians, rather than submit
to the tyranny of infidels, betook themselves to flight, and lay concealed in this
country, in Biscay, and in the Asturias, whither the brave Don Pelagio had
withdrawn himself. They lived in a state of exile, on the mountains, or in the
woods, dispersedin little knots. Some took up their residences in natural
caves, others in artificial dwellings under-ground, like this we arein. In pro-
cess of time, when by the blessing of Providence they had driven their enemies
out of Spain, they returned to the towns. From that time forth their retreats
have served as a rendezvous for the gentlemen of our profession. It is true
that several of them have been discovered and destroyed by the holy brother-
hood: but there are some yet remaining; and, by great good luck, I have
tenanted this without paying any rent for it almost these fifteen years : Captain
Rolando, at your service! I am the leader of the band; and the man you saw
with me is one of my troopers. s
Cu. V.—TZhe arrival of the banditti in the subterraneous retreat, with an
account of their pleasant conversation.
Just as Captain Rolando had finished his speech six new faces made their
appearance in the hall; the lieutenant and five privates returning home with .
their booty. They were hauling in two great baskets full of sugar, cinnamon, ‘ -
pepper, figs, almonds, and raisins. The lieutenant gave an account of their
proceedings to the captain, and told him they had taken these articles, as well
as the sumpter-mule, from a grocer of Benavento. An official report having
thus been made to the prime-minister, the grocer’s contribution was carried to
10 GIL BLAS.
account ; and the next step was to regale after their labours. A large table
was set out in the hall. ; They sent me back to the kitchen, where dame
Leonarda told me whateI had to do. I made the best of a bad in,
finding the luck ran against me ; and, swallowing my grievances, set myself to
wait on my noble masters.
I cleaned my plate, set out my sideboard, and — up my wine. As
soon as I announced dinner.to be on table, consisting of two good black pep-
pery ragouts for the first course, this high and mighty company took their seats.
They fell too most voraciously. My place was to wait ; and I handed about
the glasses with so butler-like an air, as to be not a little complimented on my
dexterity. The chief entertained them with a short sketch of my story, and
praised my parts. But I had recovered from my mania by this time, and could —
listen to my own panegyric with the humility of an anchorite or the contempt of
a philosopher. They all seemed to take a liking to me, and to think I had
dropped from the clouds on purpose to be their cup-bearer. My predecessor
was a fool tome. Since his death, the illustrious Leonarda had the honour of ——
presenting nectar to these gods of the lower regions, But she was now degraded,
and I had the felicity of being installed in her office. Thus, old Hebe being a
little the worse for wear, young Ganymede tripped up her heels.
A substantial joint of meat after the ragouts at length blunted the edge of
their appetites. Eating and drinking went together : so that they soon got inte
a merry pin, and made a roaring noise. Well done, my lads! All talkersand
no listeners. One begins along story, another cuts a joke ; herea fellow bawls,
there a fellow sings ; and they all seem to be at cross purposes. At last Ro-
lando, tired of a concert in which he could hardly hear the sound of his own
voice, let them know that he was maestro di capella, and brought them into
better tune. Gentlemen, said he, I have a question to put. Instead of stun-~—
ning one another with this infernal din, had we not better enjoy a little rational
conversation? A thought is just come into myhead. Since the happy day that
united us we have never had the curiosity to inquire into each other's pedigrees,
or by what chain of circumstances we were each of us led to embrace our pre-
sent way of life. ‘There would be no harm in knowing who and who are to-
gether. Let us exchange confidence: we may findsomeamusement in it. The
lieutenant and the rest, like true heroes of romance, accepted the challenge with
os utmost courtesy, and the captain told the first story to the following
elfect :-—
Gentlemen, you are to know that I am the only son of a rich citizen in Ma-
drid. The day of my birth was celebrated in the family by rejoicings without
end. My father, no chicken, thought it a considerable feat to have got an heir,
and my mother was kind enough to suckle me herself. My maternal grand-
father was still living: a good old man, who did not trouble himself about.
other people’s concerns, but said his prayers, and fought his campaigns over and }
over again ; for he had been in the army. Of course I was idolized by th
three persons ; never out of their arms, My early years were passed in the
most childish amusements, for fear of hurting my health by application, It will
not do, said my father, to hammer much learning into children till time has
ripened their understanding. While he waited for this ripening, the season
went by. I could neither read nor write: but I made up for that in. other ways.
My father taught mea thousand different games. I became perfectly acquainted
with cards, was no stranger to dice, and my grandfather set me the example of
drawing the long bow, while he entertained me with his military exploits. He
sung the same songs repeatedly one after another every day; so that when,
after saying ten or twelve lines after him for three months together, I got to
boggle through them without missing, the whole family were in raptures at my
.
oat
é
THE CAPTAIN RELATES HIS HISTORY. It
memory. Neither was my wit thought to be at all less extraordinary ; for I
was suffered to talk at random, and took care to put in my oar in the most imper-
tinent manner possible. the pretty little dear! exclaimed my father, as if he
had been fascinated. My mother made it up with kisses, and my grandfather’s
old eyes overflowed. I played all sorts of dirty and indecent tricks before them
with impunity; everything was excusable in so fine a boy: an angel could
not do wrong. Going on in this manner, I was already in my twelfth year
without ever having a master. It was high time ; but then he was to teach me
by fair means: he might threaten, but must not flog me. This arrangement
did me but little good ; for sometimes I laughed when my tutor scolded: at
others, I ran with tears in my eyes to my mother or my grandfather, and complain-
ed that he had used me ill. The poor devil got nothing by denying it. My word *—~
was always taken before his, and he came off with the character of a cruel ras-
cal, One day I scratched myself with my own nails, and set up a howl as if I
had been flogged. My mother ran, and turned the master out of doors, though
he vowed and protested he had never lifted a finger against me.
Thus did I get rid of all my tutors, till at last I met with one to my mind.
He was a bachelor of Alcala, This was the master for a youngman of fashion. \
Women, wine, and gaming, were his principalamusements. It was impossible \
to be in better hands. He hit the right nail on the head : for he let me do what
I pleased, and thus got into the good graces of the family, who abandoned me
to his conduct. They had no reason to repent. He perfected me betimes |
in the knowledge of the world. By dint of taking me about to all his haunts, aay
he gave such a finish to my education, that barring literature and science, I be- >
came an universal scholar. As soon as he saw that I could goalone in the high
road to ruin he went to qualify others for the same journey. ©
During my childhood I had lived at home just as I liked, and did not suffi-
,
j
i
i)
» ciently consider, that now I was beginning to be et cya for my own actions.
My father and mother were a standing jest. Yet they were themselves thrown
into convulsions at my sallies ; and the more ridiculous they were made by them,
the more waggish they thought me. In the mean time I got intoall manner of
scrapes with some young fellows of my own kidney ; and, as our relations kept
us rather too short of cash for the exigencies of so loose a life, we each of us
made free with whatever we could lay our hands on in our own families. Find- »
ing this would not raise the supplies, we began to pick pockets in the streets at
night. As ill luck would have it, our exploits came to the knowledge of the
olice, A warrant was out against us ; but some good-natured friend, thinking
it a pity we should be nipped in the bud, gave us a caution. We took to
our heels, and rose in our vocation to the rank of highwaymen. From that
time forth, gentlemen, with a blessing on my endeavours, I have gone on till I
am = the father of the profession, in spite of the dangers to which it is
exposed.
Here the captain ended, and it came to the turn of the lieutenant. Gentle-
men, extremes are said to meet ;—and so it will appear from a comparison of
our commander’s education and mine. My father was a butcher at Toledo.
He passed, with reason, for the greatest brute in the town, and my mother’s
sweet disposition was not mended by the example. In my childhood, they
whipped me in emulation of one another ; I came in for a thousand lashes of a
day! The slightest fault was followed up by the severest punishment. In vain
did I beg for mercy with tears in my eyes, and protest that I was sorry for what
Thad done. They never excused me, and nine times out of ten flogged me “™
for nothing. When I was under my father’s lash, my mother, not thinking his
arm stout enough, lent her assistance, instead of begging me off. The favours
I received at their hands gave me such a disgust, that I quitted their house be-
12 GIL BLAS.
fore I had completed my fourteenth year, took the Arragon road, and begged
my way to Saragossa. ‘There I associated with vagrants, who led a merry life
J enough. They taught me to counterfeit blindness and lameness, to dress up an
artificial wound in each of my legs, and to adopt many other methods of im-
posing on the credulity of the charitable and humane. In the morning, like
actors at rehearsal, we cast our characters, and settled the business of the
comedy. We had each our exits and our entrances ; till in the evening the
curtain dropped, and we regaled at the expense of the dupes we had deluded in
the day. Wearied, however, with the company of these wretches, and wishing
to live in more worshipful society, I entered into partnership with a gang of
sharpers. ‘These fellows taught me some good tricks : but Saragossa soon be-
came too hot to hold us, after we had fallen out with a limb of the law, who
had hitherto taken us under his protection. We each of us provided for our-
selves, and left the devil to take the hindmost. For my part, I enlisted in a
brave and veteran regiment, which had seen abundance of service on the king’s
highway : and I found myself so comfortable in their quarters, that I had no
desire to change my birth. So that you see, gentlemen, I was very much ob-
liged to my relations for their bad hehaviour ; for if they had treated me a little
more kindly, I might have been a blackguard butcher at this moment, instead
_ of having the honour to be your lieutenant.
~* Gentlemen,—interrupted a hopeful young freebooter who sat between the
' captain and the lieutenant,—the stories we have just heard are neither so com-
plicated nor so curious asmine. I peeped into existence by means of a country-
woman in the neighbourhood of Seville. Three weeks after she had set me
down in this system, a nurse child was offered her. Youare to understand she
was yet in her prime, comely in her person, and had a good breast of milk.
The young suckling had noble blood in him, and was an onlyson. My mother
accepted the proposal with all her heart, and went to fetch the child. It was
entrusted to her care. She had no sooner brought it home, than, fancying a
resemblance, she conceived the idea of substituting me for the brat of high birth,
in the hope of drawing a handsome commission at some future time for this
motherly office in behalf of her infant. My father, whose morals were on a level
with those of clodhoppers in general, lent himself very willingly to the cheat :
so that with only a change of clouts the son of Don Rodrigo de Herrera was
packed off in my name to another nurse, and my mother suckled her own and
~—~her master’s child at once in my little person.
They may say what they will of instinct and the force of blood! The little
gentleman’s parents were very easily taken in. They had not the slightest
suspicion of the trick ; and were eternally dandling me till I was seven years
old. As it was their intention to make me a finished gentleman, they gave me
masters of all kinds ; but I had very little taste for their lessons, and above all,
I detested the sciences. I had at any time rather play with the servants or the
stable boys, and was.a complete kitchen genius. But tossing up for heads or tails
was not my ruling passion. Before seventeen I had an itch for getting drank.
I played the devil among the chamber-maids ; but my prime favourite was a
kitchen girl, who had infinite merit'in my eyes;- She was a great bloated horse-
god-mother, whose good case and easy morals suited me exactly. I boarded
her with so little circumspection that Don Rodrigo took notice of it. He took
me to task pretty sharply ; twitted me with my low taste; and, for fear the
presence of my charmer should counteract his sage counsels, showed the goddess
of my devotions the outside of the door.
This proceeding was rather offensive ; and I determined to be even with him.
I stole his wife’s jewels ; and ravishing my Helen from a laundress of her ac-
quaintance, went off with her in open day, that the transaction might lose no-
THE CAPTAIN ADDRESSES GIL BLAS. 13
thing in point of notoriety. But this was not all. I carried her among her
relations, where I maried her according to the rites of the church, as much
from the personal motive of mortifying Herrera, as from the patriotic enthu-
siasm of encouraging our young nobility to mend the breed. Three months
after marriage, I heard that Don Rodrigo had gone the way of all flesh. The
intelligence was not lost upon me. I was at Seville in a twinkling, to adminis-
ter in due form and order to his effects ; but the tables were turned. My mother
had paid the debt of nature, and in her last agonies had been so much off her
guard as to confess the whole affair to the curate of the village and other com-
petent witnesses. Don Rodrigo’s son had already taken my place, or rather
his own, and his popularity was increased by the deficiency of mine ; so that
as the trumps were all out in that hand, and I had no particular wish for the
present my wife was likely to make me, I joined issue with some desperate
blades, with whom I began my trading ventures.
The young cut-purse having finished his story, another told us that he was
the son of a merchant at Burgos; that, in his youth, prompted more by piety
than wit, he had taken the religious habit and professed in a very strict order,
and that a few years afterwards he had apostatized. In short, the eight robbers
told their tale one after another, and when I had heard them all, I did not
wonder that the destinies had brought them together. The conversation now
took a different turn. They brought several schemes upon the carpet for the
next campaign ; and after having laid down their plan of operations, rose from
table and went to bed. They lighted their night candles, and withdrew to
their apartments. I attended Captain Rolando to his. ) While I was fiddling
about him as he undressed: Well! Gil Blas, said he, you see how we live!
We are always merry ; hatred and envy have no footing here ; we have not the
least difference, but hang together just like monks, You are sure, my good
lad, to lead a pleasant life here ; for I do not think you are fool enough to make
any bones about consorting with gentlemen of the road. In what does ours
differ from many a more reputable trade? Depend on it, my friend, all men
love two hands in their neighbour’s purse, though only one in their own. Men’s
principles are all alike ; the only difference lies in the mode of carrying them
into effect. Conquerors, for instance, make free with the territories of their
neighbours. People of fashion borrow and do not pay. Bankers, treasurers,
brokers, clerks, and traders of all kinds, wholesale and retail, give ample liberty
to their wants to overdraw on their consciences. I shall not mention the hangers-
on of the law ; we all know how it goes with them. At the same time it must
be allowed that they have more humanity than we have ; for as it is often our
vocation to take away the life of the innocent for plunder, it is sometimes theirs
for fee and reward to save the guilty.
Cu. VI.—The attempt of Gil Blas to escape, and its success.
AFTER the captain of the banditti had thus apologized for adopting such a line
of life, he went to bed. For my part, I returned to the hall, where I cleared
the table, and set everything to rights. Then I went to the kitchen, where
Domingo, the old negro, and dame Leonarda had been expecting me at supper.
ough entirely without appetite, I had the good manners to sit down with
them. Nota morsel could I eat ; and, as I scarcely felt more miserable than
I looked, this pair so justly formed to meet by nature, undertook to give me a
little comfort. Why do you take on so, my good lad? said the old dowager :
you ought rather to bless your stars for your good luck. You are young, and
seem a little soft ; you would have a fine kettle of fish of it in the busy world.
You might have fallen into bad hands, and then your morals would have been
14 GIL BLAS.
corrupted ; whereas here your innocence is insured to its full value. Dame
Leonarda is in the right, put in the old negro gravely, the world is but a trouble-
some place. Be thankful, my friend, for being so early relieved from the dan-
gers, the difficulties, and the afflictions of this miserable life.
I bore this prosing very quietly, because I should have got no good by put-
ting myself in a passion about it. At length Domingo, after playing a good
knife and fork, and getting gloriously muddled, took himself off to the stable.
Leonarda, by the glimmering of a lamp, showed me the way to a vault which
served as a last home to those of the corps who died a natural death. Here I
stumbled upon something more like a grave than a bed. This is your room,
said she. Your predecessor lay here as long as he was among us, and here he
lies to this day. He suffered himself to be Tucsied out of life in his prime: do
not you be so foolish as to follow his example. With this kind advice, she left
me with the lamp for my companion and returned to the kitchen. I threw
myself on the little bed, not so much for rest as meditation. O heaven! exclaimed
I, was there ever a fate so dreadful as mine? It is determined then I am to
take my leave of daylight! Beside this, as if it were not enough to be buried
alive at eighteen, my misery is to be aggravated by being in the service of a
banditti ; by passing the day with highwaymen, and the night in a charnel-
house. These reflections, which seemed to me very dismal, and were indeed
no better than they seemed, set me crying most bitterly. I could not conceive
what cursed maggot my uncle had got in his head to send me to Salamarica ;
repented running away from Cacabelos, and would have compounded for the
torture. But, considering how vain it was to shut the door when the steed was
stolen, I determined, instead of lamenting the past, to hit upon some expedient
for making my escape. What! thought I, is it impossible to get off? The
cut-throats are asleep ; cooky and the black will be snoring ere long. Why
cannot I, by the help of this lamp, find the passage by which I descended into
these infernal regions? I am afraid, indeed, my strength is not equal to lifting
the trap at the entrance. However, let us see. Faint heart never won fair
lady. Despair will lend me new force, and who knows but I may succeed ?
Thus was the train laid for a grand attempt. I got up as soon as Leonarda
and Domingo were likely to be asleep. With the lamp in my hand, I stole out
of the vault, putting up my prayers to all the spirits in paradise, and ten miles
round, It was with no small difficulty that I threaded all the windings of this
new labyrinth. At length I found myself at the stable door, and perceived the
passage which was the object of my search. Pushing on I made my way
towards the trap with a light pair of heels and a beating heart: but, alas! in
the middle of my career I ran against a cursed iron grate locked fast, with bars
so close as not to admit a hand between them. I looked rather foolish at the
occurrence of this new difficulty, which I had not been aware of at my entrance,
because the grate was then open. However, I tried what I could do by fumbling
at the bars. Then for a peep at the lock jor whether it could not be forced!
When all at once my poor shoulders were salited with five or six good strokes
of a bull’s pizzle. I set up sucha shrill alarum, that the den of Cacus rang with
it ; when looking round, who should it ‘be but the old negro in his shirt, hold-
ing a dark lanthorn in one hand, and the instrument of my punishment in the
other. Oh, ho! quoth he, my merry little fellow, you will run away, will you?
No, no! you must not think to s@t your wits against mine. I heard you all the
while. You thought you should find the grate open, did not you? You may
take it for granted, my friend, that henceforth it will always be shut. When
we keep any one here against his will, he must be a cleverer fellow than you to
" make his escape.
In the mean time, at the howl I had set up two or three of the robbers
GIL BLAS PLAYS THE HYPOCRITE. 15
waked suddenly ; and not knowing but the holy brotherhood might be falling
upon them, they got up and called their comrades. Without the loss of a mo-
ment all were on the alert. Swords and carabines were put in requisition, and
the whole posse advanced forward almost in a state of nature to the place
where I was parleying with Domingo. But as soon as they learned the cause
of the uproar, their alarm resolved itself into a peal of laughter. How now,
Gil Blas, said the apostate son of the church, you have not been a good six
hours with us, and are you tired of our company already? You must have a
great objection to retirement. Why, what would you do if you were a Carthu-
sian friar? Get along with you, and go to bed. This time you shall get off
with Domingo’s discipline ; but if you are ever caught in a second attempt of
the same kind, by Saint Bartholomew! we will flay you alive. With this
hint he retired, and the rest of the party went back to their rooms. The old
negro, taking credit to himself for his vigilance, returned to his stable; and I
found my way back to my charnel-house, where I passed the remainder of the
night in weeping and wailing.
Cu. VIL.—Gil Blas, not being able to do what he likes, does what he can.
For the first few days I thought I should have given up the ghost for very
spite and vexation. The lingering life I led was nearly akin to death itself ;
but in the end my good genius whispered me to play the hypocrite. I aimed
at looking a little more cheerful ; began to laugh and sing, though it was some-
times on the wrong side of my mouth ; in a word, I put so good a face on the
matter, that Leonarda and Domingo were completely taken in. They thought
the bird was reconciled to his cage. The robbers entertained the same notion.
I looked as brisk as the beverage I poured out, and put in my oar whenever I
thought I could say a good thing. My freedom, far from offending, was taken
in good part. Gil Blas, quoth the captain one evening, while I was playing
the buffoon, you have done well, my friend, to banish melancholy. I am de-
lighted with your wit and humour. Some people wear a mask at first acquaint-
ance ; I had no notion what a jovial fellow you were.
My praises now seemed to run from mouth to mouth. They were all so
partial to me, that, not to miss my opportunity ;—Gentlemen, quoth I, allow
me to tell you a piece of my mind. Since I have been your guest, a new light
breaks in upon me. I have bid adieu to vulgar prejudices, and caught a ray at
the fountain of your illumination. I feel that I was born to be your knight
companion. I languish to make one among you, and will stand my chance of
a halter with the best. All the company cried Hear !—I was considered as a
promising member of the senate. It was then determined unanimously to give
me a trial in some inferior department ; afterwards to bespeak me a good des-
perate encounter in which I might show my prowess ; and if I answered ex-
pectation to give me a high and responsible employment in the commonwealth.
It was necessary therefore to go on exhibiting a copy of my countenance, and
doing my best in my office of cup-bearer. I was impatient beyond measure ;
for I only aspired after the honours of the sitting, to obtain the liberty of going
abroad with the rest ; and I was in hopes that by running the risk of getting
my neck into one noose I might get it out of another. This was my only
chance. The time nevertheless seemed long to wait, and I kept my eye on
Domingo, with*the hope of outwitting him : but the thing was not feasible ; he
was always on the watch. Orpheus as leader of the band, with a complete or-
chestra of performers as good as himself, could not have soothed the savage
breast of this Cerberus. The truth is, by the by, that for fear of exciting his
suspicion, I did not set my wits against him so much as I might have done.
16 GIL BLAS.
He was on the look-out, and I was obliged to play the prude, or my virtue
might have come into disgrace, I therefore ok Se proceedings till the time
of my probation should expire, to which I looked forward with impatience, just
as if I was waiting for a place under government.
Heaven be praised, in about six months I gained my end. The commandant
Rolando addressing his regiment, said : Comrades, we must stand upon honour
with Gil Blas. I haveno bad opininion of our young candidate ; we shall make
something of him. If you will take my advice, let him go and reap his first
harvest with us to-morrow on the king’s highway. We will lead him on in the
path of honour. The robbers applauded the sentiments of the captain with a
thunder of acclamation ; and to show me how much I was considered as one of
the gang, from that moment they dispensed with my attendance at the side-
board. Dame Leonarda was reinstated in the office from which she had been
discharged to make room for me. They made me change my dress, which
consisted in a plain short cossack a good deal the worse for wear, and tricked
me out in the spoils of a gentleman lately robbed. After this inauguration, I
made my arrangements for my first campaign.
Cu. VIII.—Gi Blas goes out with the gang, and performs an exploit on the
highway.
Ir was past midnight in the month of September, when I issued from the sub-
terraneous abode as one of the fraternity. I was armed, like them, witha .
carabine, two pistols, a sword, and a bayonet, and was mounted on a very good
horse, the Bropesty of the gentleman in whose costume I appeared. I had
lived so long like a mole under-ground, that the daybreak could not fail of
dazzling me: but my eyes got reconciled to it by degrees,
We passed close by Pontferrada, and were determined to lie in ambush be-
hind a small wood skirting the road to Leon. There we were waiting for
whatever fortune might please to throw in our way, when we espied a Domini-
can friar, mounted, contrary to the rubric of those pious fathers, on a shabby
mule. God be praised, exclaimed the captain with a sneer, this is a noble be-
ginning for Gil Blas. Let him go and trounce that monk: we will bear witness
to his qualifications. The connoisseurs were all of opinion that this commission
suited my talents to a hair, and exhorted me to do my best. Gentlemen, quoth
I, you shall have no reason to complain. I will strip this holy father to his
birth-day suit, and give you complete right and title to his mule. No, no, said
Rolando, the beast would not be worth its fodder: only bring us our reverend
pastor’s purse ; that is all we require. Hereupon I issued from the wood and
pushed up to the man of God, doing penance all the time in my own breast for
the sin I was committing. I could have liked to have turned my back upon
my fellows at that moment; but most of them had the advantage of better
horses than mine: had they seen me making off, they would have been at my
heels, and would soon have caught me, or perhaps would have fired a volley,
for which I was not sufficiently case-hardened. I could not therefore venture
on so perilous an alternative ; so that claiming acquaintance with the reverend
father, I asked to look at his purse, and just put out the end of a pistol. He
stopped short to gaze upon me; and, without seeming much frightened, said,
My child, you are very young; this is an early apprenticeship to a bad trade.
Father, replied I, bad as it is, I wish I had begun it sooner. What! my son,
rejoined the good friar, who did not understand the real meaning of what I
said, how say you? What blindness! give me leave to place before your eyes
the unhappy condition. Come, come, father! interrupted I, with impatience,
a truce to your morality, if you please. My business on the high road is not to
AN EXPLOIT ON THE HIGHWAY. t7
hear sermons. Money makes my mare to go. Money! said he, with a look of
surprise ; you have a poor opinion of Spanish charity, if you think that people
of my stamp have any occasion for such trash upon their travels. Let me un-
deceive you. Weare made welcome wherever we go, and pay for our board
and lodgings by our prayers. In short, we carry no cash with us on the road ;
but draw drafts upon Providence. That is all very well, replied I; yet for fear
your drafts should be dishonoured, you take care to keep about you a little
supply for present need. But come, father, let us make an end: my comrades
in the wood are in a hurry ; so your money or your life. At these words, which
I pronounced with a determined air, the friar began to think the business grew
serious. Since needs must, said he, there is wherewithal to satisfy your craving.
A word and a blow is the only rhetoric with you gentlemen. As he said this,
he drew a large leathern purse from under his gown, and threw it on the
ground, I then told him he might make the best of his way: and he did not
wait for a second bidding, but stuck his heels into the mule, which, giving the
lie to my opinion, for I thought it on a par with my uncle’s, set off at a good
round pace. While he was riding for his life, I dismounted. The purse was
none of the lightest. I mounted again, and got back to the wood, where those
nice. observers were waiting with impatience to congratulate me on my success.
I could hardly get my foot out of the stirrup, so eager were they to shake hands
with me. Courage, Gil Blas, said Rolando ; you have done wonders. I have
had my eyes on you during your whole performance, and have watched your
countenance. I have no hesitation in predicting that you will become in time
a very accomplished highwayman. ‘The lieutenant and the rest chimed in with
the prophecy, and assured me that I could not fail of fulfilling it hereafter. I
thanked them for the elevated idea they had formed of my talents, and pro-
mised to do all in my power not to discredit their penetration.
After they had lavished praises, the effect rather of their candour than of my
merit, they took it into their heads to examine the booty I had brought under
my convoy. Let us see, said they, let us see how a friar’s purse is lined. It
should be fat and flourishing, continued one of them, for these good fathers do
not mortify the flesh when they travel. The captain untied the purse, opened
it, and took out two or three handfuls of little copper coins, an Agnus-Dei here
and there, and some scapularies. At sight of so novel a prize, all the privates
burst into an immoderate fit of laughter. God be praised! cried the lieutenant,
we are very much obliged to Gil Blas: his first attack has produced a supply,
very seasonable to our fraternity. One joke brought on another. These rascals,
especially the fellow who had retired from the church to our subterraneous her-
mitage, began to make themselves merry on the subject. They said a thousand
good things, such as showed at once the sharpness of their wits and the profli-
gacy of their morals, They were all on the broad grin except myself. It was
impossible to be butt and marksman too. They each of them shot their bolt
at me, and the captain said: Faith, Gil Blas, I would advise you as a friend
not to set your wit a second time against the church : the biter may be bit ; for
you must live some time longer among us, before you are a match for them.
Cu. IX.—A more serious incident.
WE lounged about the wood for the greater part of the day, without lighting
on any traveller to pay toll for the friar. At length we were beginning to wear
our homeward way, as if confining the feats of the day to this laughable ad-
venture, which furnished a plentiful fund of conversation, when we got intelli-
ry of a gay % on the road drawn by four mules. They were coming at a
d gallop, with three outriders, who seemed to be well armed. Rolando
eo
18 GIL BLAS.
ie
Se
ordered the troop to halt, and hold a council, the result of whose deliberations
was to attack the enemy. We were regularly drawn up in battle-array, and
marched to meet the caravan. In spite of the applause I had gained in the
wood, I felt an oozing sort of tremour come over me, with a chill in my veins
and a chattering in my teeth that seemed to bode me no good. As it never
rains but it pours, I was in the front of the battle, hemmed in between the cap-
tain and the lieutenant, who had given me that post of honour, that I might
lose no time in learning to stand fire. Rolando, observing the low ebb of my
animal spirits, looked askew at me, and muttered in a tone more resolute than
courtly: Hark ye! Gil Blas, look sharp about you! I give you fair notice,
that if you play the recreant, I shall bodes a couple of bullets in your brain. I
believed him as firmly as my catechism, and thought it high time not to neglect
the hint ; so that I was obliged to lay an embargo on the expression of my fears,
and to think only of recommending my soul to God in silence.
While all this was going on, the carriage and horsemen drew near. They
suspected what sort of gentry we were ; and guessing our trade by our badge,
stopped within gun-shot. They had carabines and pistols as well as ourselves.
While they were preparing to give us a brisk Hani ee there jumped out of the
coach a well-looking gentleman richly dressed. e mounted a led horse, and
put himself at the head of his party. Though they were but four against nine,
for the coachman kept his seat on the box, they advanced towards us with a
confidence calculated to redouble my terror. Yet I did not forget, though
trembling in every joint, to hold myself in readiness for a shot : but, to give a
candid relation of the affair, I blinked and looked the other way in letting off
my piece ; so that from the harmlessness of my fire, I was sure not ‘to have
murder to answer for in another world.
I shall not give the particulars of the engagement ; though present, I was no
eye-witness ; and my fear, while it laid hold of my imagination, drew a veil
over the anticipated horror of the sight. All I know about the matter is, that
after a grand discharge of musquetry, I heard my companions hallooing Victory!
Victory ! as if their lungs were made of leather. At this shout the terror which
had made a forcible entry on my senses was ejected, and I beheld the four horse-
men stretched lifeless on the field of battle. On our side, we had only one man
killed. This was the renegade parson, who had now filled the measure of his
apostasy, and paid for jesting with scapularies and such sacred things. The
lieutenant received a slight wound in the arm ; but the bullet did little more
than graze the skin, ies
Master Rolando was the first at the coach-door, Within was a lady of from
four to five-and-twenty, beautiful as an angel in his eyes, in spite of her sad con-
dition. She had fainted during the conflict, and her swoon still continued.
While he was fixed like a statue on her charms, the rest of us were in profound
meditation on the plunder. We began by securing the horses of the defunct ;
for these animals, frightened at the report of our pieces, had got to a little dis-
tance, after the loss of their riders. For the mules, they had not wagged a
hair, though the coachman had jumped from his box during the engagement to
make his escape. We dismounted for the purpose of unharnessing and loading
them with some trunks tied before and behind the carriage, This settled, the
captain ordered the lady, who had not yet recovered her faculties, to be set on
horseback before the best mounted of the robbers ; then, leaving the carriage
and the uncased carcases by the road-side, we carried off with us the lady, the
mules, and the horses.
al?
¢
THE ROBBERS) TREATMENT OF THE LADY. 19
Cu. X.—TZhe ladys treatment from the robbers. The event of the great design,
conceived by Gil Blas.
THE night had another hour to run when we arrived at our subterraneous man-
sion. ‘The first thing we did was to lead our cavalry to the stable, where we
were obliged to groom them ourselves, as the old negro had been confined to
his bed for three days, with a violent fit of the gout, and an universal rheumatism.
He had no member supple but his tongue ; and that he employed in testifying
his indignation by the most horrible impieties. Leaving this wretch to curse
and swear by himself, we went to the kitchen to look after the lady. So suc-
cessful were our attentions, that we succeeded in recovering her from her fit.
But when she had once more the use of her senses, and saw herself encompassed
by strangers, she knew the extent of her misfortune, and shuddered at the
thought. All that grief and despair together could present, of images the most
distressing, appeared depicted in her eyes, which she lifted up to heaven, as if
in reproach for the indignities she was threatened with. Then, giving way at
once to these dreadful apprehensions, she fell again into a swoon, her eyelids
closed once more, and the robbers thought that death was going to snatch from
them their prey. The captain, therefore, judging it more to the purpose to
leave her to herself than to torment her with any more of their assistance,
ordered her to be laid on Leonarda’s bed, and at all events to let nature take
its course,
We went into the hall, where one of the robbers, who had been bred a sur-
geon, looked at the lieutenant’s arm and put a plaistertoit. After this scientific
operation, it was thought expedient to examine the baggage. Some of the
trunks were filled with laces and linen, others with various articles of wearing
apparel ; but the last contained some bags of coin ; a circumstance highly ap-
proved by the receivers-general of the estate. After this investigation, the cook
set out the side-board, laid the cloth, and served up supper. Our conversation
ran first on the great victory we had achieved. On this subject said Rolando,
directing himself to me, Confess the truth, Gil Blas : you cannot deny that you
were devilishly frightened. I candidly admitted the fact ; but promised to fight
like a crusader after my second or third campaign. Hereupon all the company
took my part, alleging the sharpness of the action in my excuse, and that it was
very well for a novice, not yet accustomed to the smell of powder.
We next talked of the mules and horses just added to our subterraneous stud,
It was determined to set off the next morning before day-break, and sell them
at Mansilla, before there was any chance of our expedition having got wind.
This resolution taken, we finished our supper, and returned to the kitchen to
pay our respects to the lady. We found her in the same condition. Neverthe-
less, though the dregs of life seemed almost exhausted, some of these poachers
could not help casting a wicked leer at her, and giving visible signs of a motion
within them, which would have broken out into overt act, had not Rolando put
a spoke in their wheel by representing that they ought at least to wait till the
lady had got rid of her terrors and squeamishness, and could come in for her
share of the amusement. Their respect for the captain operated as a check to
the incontinence of their passions. Nothing else could have saved the lady ;
nor would death itself probably have secured her from violation.
Again therefore did we leave this unhappy female to her melancholy fate.
Rolando contented himself with charging Leonarda to take care of her, and we
all separated for the night. For my part, when I went to bed, instead ot
courting sleep, my thoughts were wholly taken up with the lady’s misfortunes.
I had no doubt of her being a woman of quality, and thought her lot on that
account so much the more piteous. I could not paint to myself, without shud-
20 GIL BLAS.
dering, the horrors which awaited her ; and felt myself as sensibly affected by
them, as if united to her by the ties of blood or friendship. At length, after
having sufficiently bewailed her destiny, I mused on the means of preserving her
honour from its present danger, and myself from a longer abode in this dungeon.
I considered that the old negro could not stir, and recollected that since his
illness the cook had the key of the grate. That thought warmed my fancy, and
gave birth to a project not to be hazarded lightly: the stages of its execution
were the following.
I pretended to have the colic. A lad in the colic cannot help whining and
groaning ; but I went further, and cried out lustily, as loud as my lungs would
let me. This roused my gentle friends, and brought them about me to know
what the deuce was the matter. I informed them that I had a swinging fit of
the gripes, and to humour the idea, gnashed my teeth, made all manner of wry
faces till I looked like a bedlamite, and twisted my limbs as if I had been going
to be delivered of a heathen oracle. Then I became calm all at once, as if my
pains had abated. The next minute I flounced up and down upon my bed, and
threw my arms about at random, In a word, I played my part so well that
these more experienced performers, knowing as they were, suffered themselves
to be thrown off their guard, and to believe that my malady was real. All at
once did they busy themselves for my relief. One brought me a bottle of
brandy, and forced me to gulp down half of it ; another, in spite of my remon-
strances, applied oil of sweet almonds in a very offensive manner : a third went
and madea napkin burning hot, to be clapped upon my stomach. In vain did I
cry mercy ; they attributed my noise to the violence of my disorder, and went
on inflicting positive evil by way of remedy for that which was artificial. At
last, able to bear it no longer, I was obliged to swear that I was better, and
entreat them to give me quarter. They left off killing me with kindness, and
I took care not to complain any more, for fear of experiencing their tender
attentions a second time.
This scene lasted nearly three hours. After which the robbers, calculating it
to be near day-break, prepared for their journey to Mansilla. I was for get-
ting up, as if I had set my heart on being of the party} but that they would not
allow. No, no, Gil Blas, said Signor Rolando, stay here, my lad ; your colic
may return. You shall go with us another time ; to-day you are not in travel-
ling condition, I did not think it prudent to urge my attendance too much, for
fear of being taken at my word ; but only affected great disappointment with so
natural an air, that they all went off without the slightest misgiving of my design.
After their departure, for which I had prayed most fervently, I said to myself :
Nowis your time, Gil Blas, to be firm and resolved. Arm yourself with courage
to go through with an enterprise so propitiously begun. Domingo istied ps a
leg, and Leonarda may show her teeth, but she cannot bite. Pounce down
upon opportunity while it offers ; you may wait long enough for another. Thus
did I spirit myself up in soliloquy. Having got out of bed, I laid hold of my
sword and pistols; and away I went to the kitchen. But before I made my
appearance I stopped to hear what Leonarda was talking about to the fair
incognita, who was come to her senses, and, on a view of her misfortune in its
extremity, took on most desperately. That is right, my girl, said the old hag,
cry your eyes out, sob away plentifully, you know the good effect of woman’s
tears. The sudden shock was too much for you; but the danger is over now
the engines can play. Your grief will abate by little and little, and you will —
get reconciled to living with our gentlemen, who are very good sort of pecple.
You will be better off than a princess, You do not know how fond they will
be of you. Not a day will pass without your being obliged to some of them,
Many a woman would give one of her eyes to be in your place,
GIL BLAS ESCAPES WITH THE LADY. 2t
I did not allow Leonarda time to go on any longer with this babbling. InI
went, and putting a pistol to her breast, insisted with a menacing air on her
delivering up the key of the grate. She did not know what to make of my
behaviour ; and, though almost in the last stage of life, had such a propensity to
linger on the road as not to venture on a refusal. With the key in my hand
I directed the following speech to the distressed object of my compassion :
Madam, Heaven sends you a deliverer in me ; follow, and I will see you safe
whithersoever you wish to be conducted. ‘The lady was not deaf to my pro-
posal, which made such an impression on her grateful heart that she jumped up
with all the strength she had left, threw herself at my feet, and conjured me to
save her honour. I raised her from the ground, and assured her she might
rely on me. I then took some ropes which were opportunely in the kitchen,
and with her assistance tied Leonarda to the legs of a large table, protesting
that I would kill her if she only breathed a murmur. After that, lighting a
candle, I went with the incognita to the treasury, where I filled my pockets with
pistoles, single and double, as full as they could hold. To encourage the lady
not to be scrupulous, I begged she would think herself at home, and make free
with her own. With our finances thus recruited, we went towards the stable,
where I marched in with my pistols cocked. I was of opinion that the old
blackamoor, for all his gout and rheumatism, would not let me saddle and bri-
dle my horse peaceably, and my resolution was to put a finishing hand to all his
ailments if he took it into his head to play the churl: but, by good luck, he was
at that moment in such pain that I stole the steed without his perceiving that
the door was open. The lady in the mean time was waiting forme. Wewere
not long in threading the passage leading to the outlet ; but reached the grate,
opened it, and at last got tothe trap. Much ado there was to lift it, which we could
not have done, but for the new strength we borrowed from the hopes of our escape.
Day was beginning to dawn when we emerged from that abyss. Our first
object was to get as far from it as possible. I jumped into the saddle:
the lady got up behind me, and taking the first path that offered, we soon gal-
loped out of the forest. Coming to some cross-roads we took our chance. I
trembled for fear of its leading to Mansilla, and our encountering Rolando and
his comrades. Luckily my apprehensions were unfounded. We got to Astorga
by two o’clock in the afternoon. The people looked at us as if they had never
seen such a sight before as a woman riding behind aman. We alighted at the
first inn. I immediately ordered a partridge and a young rabbit to the spit.
While my orders were in a train of execution, the lady was shown to a room,
where we began to scrape acquaintance with one another ; which we had not
done on the road, on account of the speed we made. She expressed a high
sense of my services, and told me that after so gentlemanly a conduct, she could
not allow herself to think me one of the gang from whom I had rescued her.
I told her my story to confirm her good opinion. By these means I entitled
myself to her confidence, and to the knowledge of her misfortunes, which she
recounted to the following effect.
Cu. X1.—The history of Donna Mencia de Mosquera.
I was born at Valladolid, and am called Donna Mencia de Mosquera... My
father, Don Martin, after spending most of his family estate in the service, was
killed in Portugal at the head of his regiment. He left me so little property,
that I was a bad match, though an only daughter. I was not, however, without
my admirers, notwithstanding the mediocrity of my fortune. Several of the
most considerable cavaliers in Spain sought me in marriage. My favourite was
Don Alvar de Mello. Itis true he hada prettier person than his rivals ; but
22 GIL BLAS.
more solid qualities determined mein his favour. He had wit, discretion, valour, _
probity ; and in addition to all these, an air of fashion. Was an entertainment
to be given? His taste was sure to be displayed. If he appeared in the lists,
he always fixed the eyes of the beholders on his strength and dexterity. I
singled him out from among all the rest, and married him.
A few days after our nuptials, he met Don Andrew de Baésa, who had been
his rival, ina private place, ‘They attacked one another sword in hand, and
Don Andrew fell. As he was nephew to the corregidor of Valladolid, a tur-
bulent man, violently incensed against the house of Mello, Don Alvar thought
he could not soon enough make his escape. He returned home speedily, and
told me what had happened while his horse was getting ready. My dear
Mencia, said he at length, we must part. You know the corregidor : let us
not flatter ourselves ; he will hunt me even to death. You are unacquainted
with his influence ; this empire will be too hot to hold me. He was so pene-
trated by his own grief and mine as not to be able to articulate further. I made
him take some cash and jewels: then he folded me in his arms, and we did
nothing but mingle our sighs and tears for a quarter of an hour. Ina short
time the horse was at the door. _ He tore himself from me, and left me in a con-
dition not easily to be expressed. It had been well if the excess of my affliction
had destroyed me! How much pain and trouble might I have escaped by death !
Some hours after Don Alvar was gone, the corregidor became acquainted with
his flight. He set up a hue and cry after him, sparing no pains to get him into
his power. My husband, however, eluded his pursuit, and got into safe quarters ;
so that the judge, finding himself reduced to confine his vengeance to the poor
satisfaction of confiscating, where he meant to execute, laboured to good pur-
pose in his vocation. Don Alvar’s little property all went to the hammer.
I remained in a very comfortless situation, with scarcely the means of sub-
sistence. A retired life was best suited to my circumstances, with a single female
servant. I passed my hours in lamenting, not an indigence, which I bore pa-
tiently, but the absence of a beloved husband, of whom I received no accounts.
He had indeed pledged himself, in the melancholy moments of our parting, to
be punctual in acquainting me with his destiny, to whatever part of the world
his evil star might conduct him. And yet seven years rolled on without my
hearing of him. My suspense respecting his fate afflicted me most deeply* At
last I heard of his falling in battle, under the Portuguese banner, in the king-
dom of Fez. A man newly returned from Africa brought me the account, wi
the assurance that he had been well acquainted with Don Alvar de Mello; had .
served with him in the army, and had seen him drop in the action. To this
narrative of facts he added several collateral circumstances, which left me no
room to doubt of my husband’s premature death.
About this time Don Ambrosio Mesia Carillo, Marquis de la Guardia, ar-
rived at Valladolid. He was one of those elderly noblemen who, with that
good breeding acquired by long experience in courts, throw their years into the
background, and retain the faculty of making themselves agreeable to our sex.
One day he happened by accident to hear the story of Don Alvar; and, from
the part I bore in it and the description of my person, there arose a desire of
being better acquainted. To satisfy his curiosity, he made interest with one of
my relations to invite me to her house. The gentleman was one of the party.
This first interview made not the less impression on his heart for the traces of
sorrow which were too obvious on my countenance. He was touched by its
melancholy and languishing expression, which gave him a favourable forecast
of my constancy. Respect, rather than any warmer sentiment, might perhaps
be the inspirer of his wishes. For he told me more than once what a miracle
of good faith he considered me, and my husband’s fate as enviable in this respect,
THE LADY'S HISTORY. 23
however lamentable in others. In a word, he was struck with me at first sight,
and did not wait for a review of my pretensions, but at once took the resolution
of making me his wife.
The intervention of my kinswoman was adopted as the means of inducing me
to accept his proposal. She paid mea visit ; and in the course of conversation,
leaded, that as my husband had submitted to the decree of Providence in the
inecican of Fez, according to very credible accounts, it was no longer rational
to coop up my charms. I had shed tears enough over a man to whom I had
been united but for a few moments as it were, and I ought to avail myself of
the present offer, and had nothing to do but to step into happiness at once. In
furtherance of these arguments, she set forth the old marquis’s pedigree, his
wealth, and high character: but in vain did her eloquence expatiate on his en-
dowments, for I was not to be moved. Not that my mind misgave me respect-
ing Don Alvar’s death ; nor that the apprehension of his sudden and unwelcome
appearance hereafter, checked my inclinations. My little liking, or rather my
extreme repugnance, to a second marriage, after the sad issue of the first, was the
sole obstacle opposed to my relation’s urgency. Neither was she disheartened :
on the contrary, her zeal for Don Ambrosio resorted to endless stratagems. All
my family were pressed into the old lord’s service. So beneficial a match was
not to be trifled with! They were eternally besetting, dunning, and torment-
ingme. In fact, my despondency, which increased from day to day, contributed
not a little to my yielding.
As there was no getting rid of him, I gave way to their eager suit, and was
wedded to the Marquis de la Guardia. The day after the nuptials, we went to
a very fine castle of his near Burgos, between Grajal and Rodillas. He con-
ceived a violent love for me: the desire of pleasing was visible in all his actions :
the anticipation of my slenderest wishes was his earliest and his latest study.
No husband ever regarded his wife more tenderly, no lover could pour forth
more devotion to his mistress. Nor would it have been possible for me to steel
my heart against a return of passion, though our ages were so disproportioned,
had not every soft sentiment been buried in Don Alvar’s grave. But the avenues
of a constant heart are barred against asecond inmate. The memory of my first
husband threw a damp on all the kind efforts of the second. Mere gratitude
was‘a cold retribution for such tenderness ; but it was all I had to give.
Such was my temper of mind, when, taking the air one day at a window in
my apartment, I perceived a peasant-looking man in the garden, viewing me
with fixed attention. Heappeared to bea common labourer. The circumstance
soon passed out of my thoughts ; but the next day, having again taken my sta-
tion at the window, I saw him on the self-same spot, and again found myself
the object of his eager gaze. This seemed strange! I looked at him in my
turn ; and, after an attentive scrutiny, thought I could trace the features of the
unhappy Don Alvar. This seeming visit from the tombs roused all the dormant
agony of my soul, and extorted from mea piercing scream. Happily, I was
then alone with Inés, who of all my women engaged the largest share of my
confidence. J told her what surmise had so agitated my spirits. She only
laughed at the idea, and took it for granted that a slight resemblance had imposed
on my fancy. Take courage, madam, said she, and do not be afraid of seeing
your first husband. What likelihood is there of his being here in the disguise
of a peasant? Is it even within the reach of credibility that he is yet alive?
However, I will go down into the garden, and talk with this rustic. I will
answer for finding out who he is, and will return in all possible haste with my
intelligence. Inés ran on her errand like a lapwing ; but soon returned to my
ae ge with a face of mingled astonishment and emotion, Madam, ex-
imed she, your conjecture is but too well grounded ; it is indeed Don Alvar
24 GIL BLAS.
whom you have seen ; he made himself known at once, and pleads for a private
interview.
As I had the means of admitting Don Alvar instantaneously, by the absence
of the Marquis at Burgos, I commissioned my waiting-maid to introduce him
into my closet by a private staircase. Well may you imagine the hurry and
agitation of my spirits. How could I support the presence of a man, who was
entitled to overwhelm me with reproaches? I fainted at his very foot-fall as he
entered. They were about me in a moment—he as well as Inés ; and when
they had recovered me from my swoon, Don Alvar said—-Madam, for heaven’s
sake, compose yourself. My presence shall never be the cause of pain to you ;
nor would I for the world expose you to the slightest anxiety. I am no savage
husband, come to ‘account with you fora sacred pledge ; nor do I impute to
criminal motives the second contract you have formed. I am well aware that
it was owing to the importunity of your friends ; your persecutions from that
quarter are not unknown to me. Besides, the report of my death was current
in Valladolid ; and you had so much the more reason to give it credit, as no
letter from me gave you any assurance to the contrary. In short, Iam no
stranger to your habits of life since our cruel separation ; and know that ne-
cessity, not lightness of heart, has thrown you into the arms...... Ah! sir, inter-
rupted I with sobs, why will you make excuses for your unworthy wife? She
is guilty, since you survive. Why am I not still in the forlorn state in which
I languished before my marriage with Don Ambrosio? Fatal nuptials !—alas !
but for these, I should at least have had the consolation in my wretchedness of
seeing the object of my first vows again without a blush.
My dear Mencia, replied Don Alvar, with a look which marked how deeply
he was penetrated by my contrition, I make no complaint of you ; and far from
upbraiding you with your present prosperity, as heaven is my witness, I return
it thanks for the favours it has showered on you. Since the sad day of my
departure from Valladolid, my own fate has ever been adverse. My life has
been but a tissue of misfortune ; and, as a surcharge of evil destiny, I had no
means of letting you hear from me. ‘Too secure in your affection, I could
neither think nor dream but of the condition to which my fatal love might have
reduced you. Donna Mencia in tears was the lovely, but killing spectre that
haunted me; of all my miseries, your dear idea was the most acute. Some-
times, I own, I felt remorse for the transporting crime of having pleased you.
I wished you had lent an ear to the suit of some happier rival, since the prefer-
ence with which you had honoured me was to fall so cruelly on your own head.
To cut short my melancholy tale—after seven years of suffering, more enamoured
than ever, I determined to see you once again. The bial e was not to be
resisted ; and the expiration of a long slavery having furnished me with the
power of giving way to it, I have been at Valladolid under this disguise at the
hazard of a discovery. ‘There, I learned the whole story. I then came to this
castle, and found the means of admission into the gardener’s service, who has
engaged me as a labourer. Such was my stratagem to obtain this private inter-
view. But do not suppose me capable of blasting, by my continuance here,
the happiness of your future days. I love you better than my own life ; I have
no consideration but for your repose ; and it is my purpose, after thus unbur-
dening my heart, to finish in exile the sacrifice of an existence which has lost
its value since no longer to be devoted to your service.
No, Don Alvar, no, exclaimed I at these words ; you shall never quit me a
second time. I will be the companion of your wanderings; and death only
shall divide us from this hour. Take my advice, replied he, live with Don
Ambrosio ; unite mot yourself with my miseries, but leave me to stand under
their undivided weight. These and other such entreaties he used; but the
#
A DISAGREEABLE INTERRUPTION. 25
more willing he seemed to sacrifice himself to my welfare, the less did I feel
disposed to take advantage of his generosity. When he saw me resolute in my
determination to follow him, he all at once changed his tone ; and assuming an
aspect of more satisfaction, Madam, said he, since you still love Don Alvar
well enough to prefer adversity with him before your present ease and afflu-
ence, let us then take up our abode at Bétancos, in the interior of Galicia.
There I have a safe retreat. Though my misfortunes may have stripped me of
all my effects, they have not alienated all my friends ; some are yet faithful,
and have furnished me with the means of carrying you off. With their help I
have hired a carriage at Zamora; have bought mules and horses, and am
accompanied by perhaps the three boldest of the Galicians. They are armed
with carabines and pistols, waiting my orders at the village of Rodillas. Let
us avail ourselves of Don Ambrosio’s absence. I will send the carriage to the
castle gate, and we will set out without loss of time. I consented. Don Alvar
flew towards Rodillas, and shortly returned with his escort. My women, from
the midst of whom I was carried off, not knowing what to think of this violent
roceeding, made their escape in great terror. Inés only was in the secret ;
but she would not link her fate with mine, on account of a love affair with Don
Ambrosio’s favourite man.
I got into the carriage, therefore, with Don Alvar, taking nothing with me
but my clothes and some jewels of my own before my second marriage ; for I
could not think of appropriating any presents of the Marquis. We travelled in
the direction of Galicia, without knowing if we should be lucky enough to
reach it. "We had reason to fear Don Ambrosio’s pursuit on his return, and
that we should be overtaken by superior numbers. We went forward for two
days without any alarm, and in the hope of being equally fortunate the third,
had got into a very quiet conversation. Don Alvar was relating the melan-
choly adventure which had occasioned the rumour of his death, and how he
recovered his freedom, after five years of slavery, when yesterday we met upon.
the Leon road the banditti you were with. He it was whom they killed with
all his attendants, and it is for him the tears flow, which you see me shedding
at this moment.
Cu. XIL—A disagreeable interruption.
DONNA MENCIA melted into tears as she finished this recital, I allowed her
to give a free passage to her sighs ; I even wept myself for company, so natural
is it to © interested for the afflicted, and especially for a lovely female in
distress.§ I was just going to ask her what she meant to do in the present con-
juncture, and possibly she was going to consult me on the same subject if our
conversation had not been interrupted ; but we heard a great noise in the inn,
which drew our attention whether we would or no. It was no less than the
arrival of the corregidor, attended by two alguazils and their marshalmen.
They came into the room where we were. A young gentleman in their train
came first up to me, and began taking to pieces the different articles of my
dress. He had no occasion to examine them long. By Saint James, exclaimed.
he, this is my identical doublet! It is the very. thing, and as safely to be chal-
lenged as my horse. You may commit this spark on my recognizance ; he is
one of the gang who have an undiscovered retreat in this country.
At this discourse, which gave me to understand my accuser to be the gentle-
man robbed, whose spoils to my confusion were exclusively my own, I was
without a word to say for myself, looking one way and the other, and not
knowing where to fix my eyes. The corregidor, whose office was suspicion,
set me down for the culprit; and, presuming on the lady for an accomplice,
26 3 GIL BLAS.
ordered us into separate custody. This magistrate was none of your stern gal-
lows-preaching fellows, he had a jocular epigrammatic sort of countenance.
G nows if his heart lay in the right place for all that! As soon as I was
committed, in came he with his pack. They knew their trade, and began by
searching me. What a forfeit to these lords of the manor! At every handful of
pistoles, what little eyes did I see them make! The corregidor was absolutely
out of his wits! It was the best stroke within the memory of justice! My
pretty lad, said his Worship with a softened tone, we only do our duty, but do
not you tremble for your bones before the time: you will not be broken on
the wheel if you do not deserve it. These blood-suckers were emptying my
pockets all the time with their cursed palaver, and took from me what their
betters of the shades below had the decency to leave—my uncle’s forty ducats.
They stuck at nothing! Their staunch fingers, with slow but certain scent,
routed me out from top to toe; they whisked me round and round, and stripped
me even to the shame of modesty, for fear some sneaking portrait of the king
should slink between my shirt and skin. When they could sift me no further,
the corregidor thought it time to begin his examination. I told a plain tale.
My deposition was taken down; and the sequel was, that he carried in his
train his bloodhounds, and my little property, leaving me to toss without a rag
upon a beggarly wisp of straw.
Oh the miseries of human life! groaned I, when I found myself in this mer-
ciless and solitary condition. Our adventures here are whimsical, and out of
all time and tune. From my first outset from Oviedo, I had got into a pleas-
ant round of difficulties; hardly had I worked myself out of one danger,
before I soused into another. Coming into town here, how could I expect the
honour of the corregidor’s acquaintance? While thus communing with my
own thoughts, I got once more into the cursed doublet and the rest of the
paraphernalia which had got me into such a scrape; then plucking up a little
courage, never mind, Gil Blas, thought I, do not be chicken-hearted. What
is a prison above-ground, after so brimstone a snuffle as thou hast had of the
regions below? But, alas! I hallo before I am out of the wood! I am in
more experienced hands than those of Leonarda and Domingo. My key will
not open this grate! I might well say so, for a prisoner without money is like
a bird with its wings clipt ; one must be in full feather to flutter out of distance
from these gaol-birds.
But we left a partridge and a young rabbit on the spit! How they got off I
know not; but my supper was a bit of sallow-complexioned bread, with a
pitcher of water to render it amenable to mastication! and thus wasI destined
to bite the bridle in my dungeon. A fortnight was pretty well without seeing
a soul but my keeper, who had orders that I should want for nothing in the
bread and water way! Whenever he made his appearance I was inclined to be
sociable, and to parley a little to get rid of the blue devils ; but this majestic
minister was above reply, he was mum ! he scarcely trusted his eyes but to see
that I did not slip by him. On the sixteenth day, the corregidor strutted in to
this tune—You are a lucky fellow! Ihave news for you. ‘The ladyis packed
off for Burgos. She came under my examination before her departure, and her
answers went to your exculpation. You will be at large this very day if your
. Carrier from Pegnaflor to Cacabelos agrees in the same tale. He is now in
Astorga. I have sent for him, and expect him here; if he confirms the story,
of the torture, you are your own master.
At these words I was ready to jump out of my skin for joy. The business
was settled! I thanked the magistrate for the abridgment of justice with which
he had deigned to favour me, and was getting to the fag end of my compliment,
when the muleteer arrived, with an attendant before and behind, I knew
GIL BLAS RELEASED FROM PRISON. 27
the fellow’s face; but he, having as a matter of course sold my cloak-bag with the
contents, from a deep-rooted affection to the money which the sale had brought,
swore lustily that he had no acquaintance with me, and had never seen me in
the whole course of his life. Oh! you villain, exclaimed I, go down on your
knees and own that you have sold my clothes. Prythee, have some regard to
truth! Look in my face ; am not I one of those shallow young fellows whom
you had the wit to threaten with the rack in the corporate town of Cacabelos ?
The muleteer turned upon his toe, and protested he had not the honour of
my acquaintance. As he persisted in his disavowal, I was recommitted for
further examination. Patience once more! It was only reducing feasts and
fasts to the level of bread and water, and regaling the only sense I had the
means of using with the sight of my tongue-tied warden. But when I reflected
how little innocence would avail to extricate me from the clutches of the law,
the thought was death ; I panted for my subterraneous paradise. Take it for
all in all, said I, there were fewer grievances than in this dungeon. I was hail
fellow well met with the banditti! I bandied about my jokes with the best of
them, and lived on the sweet hope of an escape; whereas my innocence here
will only be a passport to the galleys.
Cu. XIIL—T%e lucky means by which Gil Blas escaped from prison, and
his travels afterwards.
WHILE I passed the hours in tickling my fancy with my own gay thoughts, my
adventures, word for word, as I had set my hand to them, were current about
the town. The people wanted to make a show of me! One after another,
there they came, peeping in at a little window of my prison, not too capacious
of daylight ; and when they had looked about them, off they went ! This raree-
show was a novelty. Since my commitment, there had not been a living
creature at that window, which looked into a court where silence and horror
kept guard. This gave me to understand that I was become the town-talk,
and I knew not whether to divine good or evil from the omen.
One of my first visitors was the little chorister of Mondognedo, who had a
fellow-feeling with me for the rack, and an equally light pair of heels. I knew
him at once, and he had no qualms about acknowledging me as an acquaint-
ance. We exchanged a kind greeting, then compared notes since our separa-
tion. I was obliged to relate my adventures in due form and order. The
chorister, on his part, told me what had happened in the inn at Cacabelos,
between the muleteer and the bride, after we had taken to our heels in a panic.
Then with a friendly assurance at parting, he promised to leave no stone un-
turned for my release. His companions of mere curiosity testified their pity
for my misfortune; assuring me that they would lend a helping hand to the little
chorister, and do their utmost to procure my freedom.
They were no worse than their word. The corregidor was applied to in my
favour, who, no longer doubtful of my innocence, above all when he had heard
the chorister’s story, came three weeks afterwards into my cell. Gil Blas, said
he, I never stand shilly-shally : begone, you are free ; you may take yourself off
whenever you please. But, tell me, if you were carried to the forest, could you
not discover the subterraneous retreat? No, sir, replied I: as I only entered in
the night, and made my escape before day-break, it would be impossible to fix
upon the spot. Thereupon the magistrate withdrew, assuring me that the
oe should be ordered to give me free egress. In fact, the very next moment
e turnkey came into my dungeon, followed by one of his outriding establish-
ment, with a bundle of clothes under his arm. They both of them stripped me
with the utmost solemnity, and without uttering a single syllable, of my doublet ©
28 GIL BLAS.
and breeches, which had the honour to be made of a bettermost cloth almost
new ; then, having rigged me in an old frock, they shoved me out of their
hospitable mansion by the shoulders.
The taking I was in to see myself so ill equipped, acted as a cooler to the
usual transport of prisoners at recovering their liberty. I was tempted to escape
from the town without delay, that I might withdraw from the gaze of the peo-
ple, whose prying eyes I could not encounter but with pain. My gratitude,
however, got the better of my diffidence. I went to thank the little chorister,
to whom I was so much obliged. He could not help chuckling when he saw
me. ‘That is your trim, is it? said he. As far as I see, you cannot complain
that your case has not been sifted to the bottom. I have nothing to say against
the laws of my country, replied I; they are as just as need be. I only wish
their officers would take after them! They might have spared me my suit of
clothes: I have paid for them over and over again. I am quite of your mind,
rejoined he ; but they would tell you that these are little formalities of old
standing, which cannot be dispensed with. What! you are foolish enough to
suppose, for instance, that your horse has been restored to its right owner?
Not a word of it, if you please: the beast is at this present in the stables of the
register, where it has been impounded as a witness to be brought into court :
if the poor gentleman comes off with the crupper, he will be so much in pocket.
But let us change the subject. What is your plan? What do you mean to do
with yourself? I have an inclination, said I, to take the road for Burgos. I
may light on my rescued lady; she will give me a little ready cash: I shall
then buy a new short cassock, and betake myself to Salamanca, where I shall
see what I can make of my Latin. All my trouble is, how to get to Burgos:
one must live on the road. I understand you, replied he. Take my purse: it
is rather thinly lined, to be sure ; but you know a chorister’s dividends are not
like a bishop’s. At the same time he drew it from his pouch, and inserted it
between my hands with so good a grace, that I could not do otherwise than
accept it, for want of a better. I thanked him as though he had made me a
present of a gold mine, and tendered him a thousand promises of recom-
pense, to be duly honoured and punctually paid at doom’s-day. With this I
left him, and skulked ont of the town, not paying my respects to my other
benefactors ; but giving them a thousand blessings from my heart.
The little chorister had reason for speaking modestly of his purse, it was not
orthodox. By good luck, I had been used for these two months to a very
slender diet, and had still a little small change left when I reached Ponte de
Mula, not far from Burgos. I halted there to inquire after Donna Mencia.
The hostess of the inn I put up at was a little withered, spiteful, emaciated bit
of mortality. I saw at a glance, by the mouths she made at me aside, that my
frock did not hit her fancy ; and I thought it a proof of hertaste. SoTI sat
zoel down at a table ; ate bread and cheese, and drank a few glasses of exe-
crable “wine, such as innkeepers technically call cassecoquin. ing this
meal, which was of a piece with the outward appearance of the guest, I did my
utmost to come to closer quarters with my landlady. Did she know the Mar-
quis de la Guardia? Was his castle far out of town? Above all, what was
become of my lady marchioness? You ask many questions in a breath, re-
plied she, bridling with disdain. But I got out of her, though by hard pump-
ing, that Don.Ambrosio’s castle was but a short league from Ponte de Mula,
After I had done eating and drinking, as it was night, I thought it natural to
go to bed, and asked for my room. A room for you! shrieked my landlady,
darting at me a glance of contempt and pride ; I have no rooms for fellows who
make their supper on a bit of cheese. All my beds are bespoke. There are
people of fashion expected, and our accommodations are all kept for them.
DONNA MENCIA’S RECEPTION OF HIM. 29
But I will not be unchristian: you may lie in my barn: I suppose your soft
skin will not be incommoded by the feel of straw. She spoke truth without
knowing it. I took it all in silence, and slunk to my roosting-place, where I
fell asleep like a man, the excess of whose labours are his ready passport to the
blessings of repose.
"Cu, XIV.—Donna Mencia’s reception of him at Burgos.
I was no sluggard, but got up the next morning betimes. I paid my bill to
the landlady, who was already stirring, and seemed a little less lofty and in
better humour than the evening before ; a circumstance I attributed to the en-
deavours of three kind guardsmen belonging to the holy brotherhood. These
gentlemen had slept in the inn: they were evidently on a very intimate footing
with the hostess : and doubtless it was for guests of such note that all the beds
were bespoke.
I inquired in the town my way to the castle where I wanted to present my-
self. By accident I made up to a man not unlike my landlord at Pegnafior.
He was not satisfied with answering my question to the point ; but informed
me that Don Ambrosio had been dead three weeks, and the marchioness his
lady had taken the resolution of retiring to a convent at Burgos, which he
named, I proceeded immediately towards that town, instead of taking the
road to the castle, as I had first meant to do, and flew at once to the place of
Donna Mencia’s retreat. I besought the attendant at the turning-box to tell
that lady that a young man just discharged from prison at Astorga wanted to
speak with her. The nun went on the message immediately. On her return,
she showed me into a parlour, where I did not wait long before Don Ambro-
sio’s widow appeared at the grate in deep mourning.
You are welcome, said the lady. Four days ago I wrote to a person at
Astorga, to pay you a visit as from me, and to tell you to come and see me the
moment you were released from prison. I had no doubt of your being dis-
charged shortly : what I told the corregidor in your exculpation was enough
for that. An answer was brought that you had been set at liberty, but that no
one knew what was become of you. I was afraid of not seeing you any more,
and losing the pleasure of expressing my gratitude. Never mind, added she,
observing my confusion at shake my appearance in so wretched a garb; your
dress is of very little consequence. After the important services you have ren-
dered me, I should be the most ungrateful of my sex, if I were to do nothing
for you in return, I undertake, therefore, to better your condition : it is my
duty, and the means are in my power. My fortune is large enough to pay my
debt of obligation to you, without putting myself to inconvenience.
You know, continued she, my story up to the time when we both were com-
mitted to prison. I will now tell you what has happened to me since. When
the corregidor at Astorga had sent me to Burgos, after having heard from my
own lips a faithful recital of my adventures, I presented myself at the castle of
Ambrosio. My return thither excited extreme surprise : but they told me that
it was too late ; the marquis, as if he had been thunderstruck at my flight, fell
sick ; and the physicians despaired of his recovery. Here was a new incident
in the melancholy tragedy of my fate. Yet I ordered my arrival to be announced.
The next moment I ran into his chamber, and threw myself on my knees by
his bedside, with a face running down with tears and a heart oppressed with
the most lively sorrow. Who sent for you hither? said he as soon as he saw
me ; are you come to contemplate your own contrivance? Was it not enough
to have deprived me of life? But was it necessary to satisfy your heart’s desire,
to be an eye-witness of my death? My lord, replied I, Inés must have told
’
30 GIL BLAS.
you that I fled with my first husband ; and, had it not been for the sad accident
which has taken him from me for ever, you never would have seen me more,
At the same time, I acquainted him that Don Alvar had been killed by a ban-
ditti, whose captive I had consequently been in a subterraneous dungeon.
After relating the particulars of my story to the end, Don Ambrosio held out
to me his hand. It is enough, said he affectionately, I will make no more
complaints. Alas! Have I in fact any right to reproach you? You were
thrown once more in the way of a beloved husband ; and gave me up to follow
his fortunes: can I blame such an instance of your affection? No, madam, it
would have been vain to resist the will of fate. For that reason I gave orders
not to pursue you. In my rival himself I could not but respect the sacred
rights with which he was invested, and even the impulse of your flight seemed
to have been communicated by some superior power. To close all with an act
of justice, and in the spirit of reconciliation, your return hither has re-established
you completely in my affection. Yes, my dear Mencia, your presence fills me
with joy: but, alas! I shall not long be sensible to it. I feel my last hour
to be at hand. No sooner are you restored to me, than I must bid you an
eternal farewell. At these touching expressions, my tears flowed in torrents.
I felt and expressed as much affliction as the human heart is capable of con-
taining. I question whether Don Alvar’s death, doting on him as I did, had
cost me more bitter lamentations. Don Ambrosio had given way to no mis-
taken presage of his death, which happened on the following day ; and I re-
mained mistress of a considerable jointure, settled on me at our marriage. But
I shall take care to make no unworthy use of it. The world shall not see me,
young as I still am, wantoning in the arms of a third husband. Besides that
such ‘levity seems irreconcileable with the feelings of any but the profligate of
our sex, I will frankly own the relish of life to be extinct in me ; so that 1 mean
to end my days in this convent, and to become a benefactress to it.
Such was Donna Mencia’s discourse about her future plans. She then drew
a purse from beneath her robe, and put it into my hands, with this address :
Here are a hundred ducats simply to furnish out your wardrobe. That done,
come and see me again. I mean not to confine my gratitude within such nar-
row bounds. I returned her a thousand thanks, and promised solemnly not to
quit Burgos, without taking leave of her. Having given this pledge, which I
had every inclination to redeem, I went tolook out for some house of entertain-
ment. Entering the first I met with, I asked foraroom. To parry theill opinion
my frock might convey of my finances, I told the landlord that, however appear-
ances might be against me, I could pay for my night’s lodging as well as a
better dressed gentleman. At this speech, the landlord, whose name was Ma-
juelo, a great banterer in a coarse way, running over me with his eyes from 4
to toe, answered with a cool, sarcastic grin, that there was no need of any suc
assurance ; it was evident I should pay my way liberally, for he discovered
something of nobility through my disguise, and had no doubt but I was a gentle-
man in very easy circumstances. I saw plainly that the rascal was laughing at me ;
and, to stop his humour before it became too convulsive, gave him a little insight
into the state of my purse. I went so far as to count over my ducats ona table
before him, and perceived my coin to have inclined him to a more respectful
judgment. I begged the favour of him to send for a tailor. A broker would
be better, said he ; he will bring all sorts of apparel, and you will be dressed
up out of hand. I approved of this advice, and determined to follow it ; but,
as the day was on the point of closing, I put off my purchase till the morrow,
and thought only of getting a good supper, to make amends for the miserable
fare I had taken up with since my escape from the forest.
DRESSES HIMSELF TO MORE ADVANTAGE. 31
Cu. XV.—Gil Blas dresses himself to more advantage, and receives a second pre-
sent from the lady. His equipage on setting out from Burgos.
THEY served me up a plentiful fricassee of sheep's trotters, almost the whole of
which I demolished. My drinking kept pace with my eating: and when [
could stuff no longer, I went to bed. I lay comfortably enough, and was in
hopes that a sound sleep would have the kindness without delay to commit a -
friendly invasion on my senses. But I could not close an eye for ruminating
on the dress I should choose. What shall I do, thought I? Shall I follow my
first plan? Shall I buy a short cassock, and go to Salamanca to set up for a
tutor? Why should I adopt the costume of a licentiate? For the purpose of
going into orders? Do I feel an inward call? No? If I have any call, it is
quite the contrary way. I had rather wear a sword than an apron: and push
my fortune in this world, before I think of the next.
I made up my mind to take on myself the appearance ofa gentleman. Wait-
ing for the day with the greatest impatience, its first dawn no sooner greeted my
eyes, than I got up. I made such an uproar in the inn, as to wake the most
inveterate sleeper, and called the servants out of bed, who returned my salute
witha volley of curses. But they found themselves under a necessity of stirring,
and I let them have no rest till they had sent fora broker. The gentleman
soon made his appearance, followed by two lads, each lugging in a great bundle
of green cloth. He accosted me very civilly, to the following effect : Honoured
sir, you are a happy man to have been recommended to me rather than any one
else. I do not mean to give my brethren an ill word : God forbid I should offer
the slightest injury to their reputation! They have nonetospare. But, between
ourselves, there is not one of them that has any bowels ; they are more extor-
tionate than the Israelites. ‘There is not a broker but myself that has any
moral sense. I keep within the bounds of a reasonable profit. Iam satisfied
with a pound in the penny ;—no, no !—that is wrong :—with a penny in the
pound. Thanks to heaven, I get forward fair and softly in the world.
The broker, after this preface, which I, likea fool, took for chapter and verse,
told his journeymen to undo their bundles. They showed me suits of every
colour in the rainbow, and exposed to salea great choice of plaincloths. These
I threw aside with contempt, as thinking them too undrest ; but they made me
try on one which fitted me as well as if I had been measured for it, and just hit
my fancy, though it was a little the worse for wear. It was a doublet with
slashed sleeves, with breeches and a cloak, the whole of blue velvet with a gold
embroidery. I felt a little hankering after this particular article, and attempted
to beat down the price. The broker, who saw my inclination, told me I had
a very correct taste. By all that is sacred! exclaimed he, it is plain you
are no younker. Take this with you! That dress was made for one of the first
nobility in the kingdom, and has not been on his back three times. Look at
the velvet ; feel it: nothing can be richer or of a better colour ; and for the
embroidery, come now! tell truth: did you ever see better workmanship?
What is the price of it? said I. Only sixty ducats, replied he. I have refused
the money, or else lama liar. The alternative could not fail in one proposi-
tion or the other. I bid five and forty: two or three and twenty would have
been nearer the mark. My worthy master, said the broker coolly, I never ask
too much. I have but one price. But here, added he, holding up the suits I
had thrown aside ; take these: I can afford to sell them a better bargain. All
this only inflamed my eagerness to buy what I was cheapening ; and as I had
no idea that he would have made any abatement, I paid him down sixty ducats.
When he saw how easily a fool and his money were parted, I verily believe that
in spite of the moral sense, he heartily repented not having taken a hint from
32 \ GH BLAS.
the extortionate Israelite. But reconciling himself as well as he could to the
small profit, to which he professed to confine himself, of a pound upona penny,
he retreated with his journeymen. I was not suffered to forget that they must
have something for their trouble.
I had now a cloak, a doublet, and a very decent pair of breeches. The rest
of my wardrobe was to be thought of: and this took up the whole moming. I
bought some linen, a hat, silk stockings, shoes, and a sword ; and concluded
by putting on my purchases. What pleasure wasit to see myself so well accou-
tered! My eyes were never cloyed, as it were, with the richness of my attire.
Never did peacock look at his own plumage with less philosophy. On that
very day, I paid a second visit to Donna Mencia, who received me with her
usual affability. She thanked me over again for the service I had rendered her.
On that subject, rapid was the interchange of compliments. Then, wishing
every kind of success, she bade me farewell, and withdvers without giving me
anything but a ring worth thirty pistoles, which she begged me to keep as a
remembrance,
I looked very foolish with my ring ! I had reckoned on a much more consi-
derable present. Thus, little satisfied with the lady’s bounty, I measured back
my steps in a very musing attitude: but as I entered the inn door, a man over-
took me, and throwing off his wrapping cloak, discovered a large bag under his
arm. At the vision of the bag, apparently full of current coin, I stood gapin
as did most of the company present. The voice of angel or archangel conl
not have been sweeter, than when this messenger of earthly dross, laying
the bag upon the table, said : Signor Gil Blas, the lady marchioness desires her
compliments. I bowed the bearer out, with an accumulation of fine speeches ;
and, as soon as his back was turned, pounced upon the bag, like a hawk upon
its quarry, and bore it between my talons to my chamber. I untied it without
loss of time, and the contents were ;—a thousand ducats! The landlord who
had overheard the bearer, came in just as I had done counting them, to know
what was in the bag. The sight of my riches displayed upon a table, struck
him in a very forcible manner. What the devil! here is asum of money! So,
so! you are the man! pursued he with a waggish sort of leer, you know how
to—tickle the—fancies of the ladies! Four and twenty hours only have you
been in Burgos, and marchionesses, I warrant you, have surrendered at the first
summons !
This discourse was not so much amiss. I was half inclined to leave Majuelo
in his error ; for it flattered my vanity. Ido not wonder young fellows are fond
of passing for men of gallantry. But as yet the purity of my morals was proof
against the suggestions of my pride. I undeceived my landlord, by telling him
Donna Mencia’s story, to which he listened very attentively. Afterwards I let
him into the state of my affairs ; and, as he seemed to take an interest in them,
besought him to assist me with his advice. He ruminated for some time ; then
said with a serious air: Master Gil Blas, I have taken a liking to you; and
since you are candid enough to open your heart to me, I will tell you sincerely
what I think would suit you best. You were evidently born for a court life : I
recommend you to go thither, and to get about the person of some considerable
nobleman. But make a point either of getting at his secrets, or nara amg.
to his pleasures ; unless you do that, it will be all lost time in his family.
know the great : they reckon nothing upon the zeal and attachment of a real
friend ; but only care for pimping sycophants. You have, besides, another string
to your bow. You are young, with an attractive person: parts out of the
question, for they are not at all times necessary, it is hard if you cannot turn the
head of some rich widow, or handsome wife with a broomstick for her husband.
Love may ruin men of fortune ; but it makes amends by feathering the nests of
DONNA MENCIA’S COUSIN INTRODUCED 70 HIM. — 33
those who have none. My vote, therefore, is for Madrid : but you must not
make your appearance there without an establishment. There, as elsewhere,
people judge by the outside ; and you will only be respected according to the
figure you make, I will find you a servant, a tried domestic, a prudent lad ;
in a word, a fellow of my own creation. Buy acouple of mules ; one for your-
self, the other for him : and set off as fast as you can.
This counsel was too palatable to be refused. On the day following I pur-
chased two fine mules, and bargained with my new servant. He was a young
man of thirty, of a very simple and godly appearance. He told me he was a
native of Galicia, by name Ambrose de Lamela. Other servants are selfish,
and think they never can have wages enough. This fellow assured me he was
a man of few wants, and should be contented with whatever I had the goodness
to give him. I bought a pair of boots, witha portmanteau to lock up my linen
and my money. Having settled with my landlord, I set out from Burgos the
next morning before sun-rise, on my way to Madrid.
Cu. XVI.—Showing that prosperity will slip through a man’s fingers.
WE slept at Duengnas the first night, and reached Valladolid on the following
day, about four o’clock in the afternoon. We alighted at the inn of the most
respectable appearance in the town. I left the care of the mules to my fellow,
and went up to a room whither I ordered my portmanteau to be carried by a
waiter. As I felt a little weary, I threw myself on a couch in my boots, and
fell asleep involuntarily. It was almost night when I awoke. I called for Am-
brose. He was not to be found in the house ; but made his appearance in a
short time. I asked him where he had been: he answered in his godly way,
that he was just come from church, whither he went for the purpose of thanks-
giving, by reason that we had been graciously preserved from all perils and
dangers between Burgos and Valladolid. I commended his piety ; and ordered
a chicken to be roasted for supper.
At the moment when I was giving this order, my landlord came into my
room with a light in his hand. ‘That cursed candle served to introduce a lady,
handsome, but not young, and very richly attired. She leant upon an usher,
none of the youngest, and a little blackamoor was her train-bearer. I was un-
der no small surprise when this fair incognita, with a profound obeisance, beg-
ged to know if my name might happen to be Signor Gil Blas of Santillane ?
JE had no sooner blundered out yes, than she released her sweet hand from the
custody of the usher, and embraced me with a transport of joy, of which I knew
less and less what to make. Heaven be praised, cried she, for all its mercies !
You are he, noble sir, the very man of whom I was in quest. By this introduc-
tion I was reminded of my friend the parasite at Pegnaflor, and was on the
point of suspecting the lady to be no better than an honest woman should be :
but her finale gave me a much higher opinion of her. I am, continued she,
first cousin to Donna Mencia de Mosquera, whom you have so greatly befriended.
It was but this morning I received a letter from her. She writes me word that
having learnt your intention of going to Madrid, she wished me to receive you
hospitably on your journey, if you went this way. For these two hours have I
been parading the town. From inn to inn have I gone to inform myself what
strangers were in the house; and I gathered from the landlord’s description
that you were most likely to have been my cousin’s deliverer, Since then I have
found you out, you shall know by experience my gratitude to the friends of my
family, and especially to my dear cousin’s hero. You will take up your abode,
if you please, at my house. Your accommodations will be better. I wished
to excuse myself; and told the lady that I could not be so troublesome : but
34 GIL BLAS.
her importunities were more than a match for my modesty. A carriage was
waiting at the door of the inn to convey us. She saw my portmanteau taken
care of with her own eyes, because, as she justly observed, there were a great
many light-fingered gentry about Valladolid—to be sure there were a great
many light-fingered gentry about Valladolid, as she justly observed! In short,
I got into the carriage with her and the old usher, and suffered myself to be
carried off bodily from the inn, to the great annoyance of the landlord, who saw
himself thus weaned from all the little perquisites he had reckoned on from my
abode under his roof.
Our carriage, having rolled on some distance, stopped. We alighted at the
door of a handsome house, and went up-stairs into a well-furnished apartment,
illuminated by twenty or thirty wax candles. Several servants were in waiting,
of whom the lady inquired whether Don Raphael was come. They answered,
No. She then addressed herself to me: Signor Gil Blas, I am waiting for my
-brother’s return from a country seat of ours, about two leagues distant. What
an agreeable surprise will it be to him to find a man under his roof to whom our
family is so inuch indebted ! At the very moment she had finished this pretty
speech we heard a noise, and were informed at the same time that it was occasion-
ed by the arrival of Don Raphael. This spark soon made his appearance. He
was a young man of portly figure and genteel manners. I am in ecstacy to see
you back again, brother, said the lady ; you will assist me in doing ry Mecho
to Signor Gil Blas of Santillane. We can never do enough to show our sense of
his kindness to our kinswoman, Donna Mencia. Here, read this letter I have
just received. Don Raphael opened the envelope, and read aloud as follows :
** My dear Camilla, Signor Gil Blas of Santillane, the saviour of my honour and
my life, has just set out for court. He will of course pass through Valladolid. I
conjure you by our family connection, and still more by our indissoluble friend-
ship, to give him an hospitable reception, and to detain him for some time as
your guest. I flatter myself that you will so far oblige me, and that my deliverer
will receive every kind of polite attention from yourself, and my cousin, Don
Raphael. Your affectionate cousin,
‘* Burgos. DONNA MENCIA.”
What ! cried Don Raphael, casting his eyes again over the letter, is it to this
gentleman my kinswoman owes her honour and her life? Then heaven be
praised for this happy meeting. With this sort of language, he advanced to-
wards me ; and squeezing me tightly in his arms : What joy to me is it, added
he, to have the honour of seeing Signor Gil Blas of Santillane! My cousin the
marchioness had no need to press the hospitality. Had she only told us simply that
you were passing through Valladolid, that would have been enough. y sister
Camilla and I shall be at no loss how to conduct ourselves towards a young
gentleman who has conferred an obligation, not to be repaid, on her of all our
family most tenderly beloved by us. I made the best answer I could to these
speeches, which were followed by many others of the same kind, and interlarded
with a thousand bows and scrapes. But Lord bless me, he has his boots on !
The servants were ordered in, to take them off.
We next went into another room, where the cloth was lain. Down we sat
at table, the brother, sister, and myself. They paid me a hundred compli-
ments during supper. Nota word escaped me, but they magnified it into an
admirable hit! It was impossible not to observe the assiduity with which they
both helped me out of every dish. Don Raphael often pledged me to Donna
Mencia’s health. I could not refuse the challenge ; and it looked a little as if
Camilla, who was a very good companion, ogled at me with no questionable
meaning. I even thought I could perceive that she watched her opportunity,
as if she was afraid of being detected by her brother. Anoracle could not have
GIL BLAS TRICKED OUT OF HIS RING. 35
convinced me more firmly that the lady was caught ; and I looked forward to a
little delicate amusement from the discovery, during the short time I was to stay
at Valladolid. That hope was my tempter to comply with the request they
made me, of condescending to pass a few days with them. They thanked me
kindly for indulging them with my company ; and Camilla’s restrained, but
visible transport, confirmed me in the opinion that I was not altogether disagree-
able in her eyes.
Don Raphael, finding I had made up my mind to be his guest for a few days,
proposed to take me to his country house. The description of it was magnifi-
cent, and the round of amusements he meditated for me was not to be described.
At one time, said he, we will take the diversion of the chase, at another that of
fishing ; and whenever you have a mind for a saunter, we have charming woods
and gardens. In addition, we shall have agreeable society. I flatter myself
you will not find the time hang heavy on your hands. I accepted the invitation,
and it was agreed that we should go to this fine country house the following
day. We rose from the table with this pleasant scheme in our mouths. Don
Raphael seemed in ecstacy. Signor Gil Blas, said he, embracing me, I leave
you with my sister. I am going presently to give the necessary orders, and
send invitations round to the families I wish to be of the party. With these
words he sallied forth from the room where we were sitting. 1 went on chat-
ting with the lady, whose topics of discourse did not bely the glances of her
expressive eyes. She took me by the hand, and playing with my ring, You
have a mighty pretty brilliant there, said she, but it is small. Are you a judge
of jewellery? I answered, no! I am sorry for that, resumed she, because I was
in hopes you could have told me what this is worth. As she uttered these
words, she showed me a large ruby on her finger ; and, while I was looking at
it, said—An uncle of mine, who was governor of the Spanish settlements in the
Philippine isles, gave methisruby. The jewellers at Valladolid value it at three
hundred pistoles. It cannot be worth less, said I, for it is evidently a very fine
stone. Why, then, since you have taken a fancy to it, replied she, an exchange
is no robbery. In a twinkling she whisked off my ring, and placed her own on
my little finger. After this exchange, a genteel way enough of making a pre-
sent, Camilla pressed my hand and gazed at me with expressive tenderness ;
then, all at once breaking off the conversation, wished me good night, and re-
tired to hide her blushes, as if she had been ready to sink at the indiscreet
avowal of her sentiments.
No one hitherto had trod less in the paths of gallantry than myself! Yet I
could not shut my eyes to the vista vision opened to me by this precipitate re-
treat. Under these circumstances, a country excursion might have its charms.
Full of this flattering idea, and intoxicated with the prosperous condition of my
affairs, I locked myself into my bed-room, after having told my servant to call
me betimes in the morning. Instead of going to sleep, I gave myself up to the
agreeable reflections which my portmanteau, snug upon the table, and my ruby
excited in my breast. Heaven be praised, thought I, though misfortunes have
been my lot, Iam unfortunate no longer. A thousand ducats here, a ring of
three hundred pistoles’ value there ! I am in cash for a considerable time. In-
deed Majuelo was no flatterer, I see clearly. The ladies of Madrid will take
fire like touchwood, since the green sticks of Valladolid are so inflammable.
Then the kind regards of the generous Camilla arrayed themselves in all their
charms, and I tasted by anticipation the amusements Don Raphael was preparing
for me at his villa. In the mean while, amid so many images of pleasure, sleep
was on the watch to strew his poppies on my couch. As soon as I felt myselt
drowsy, I undressed and went to bed.
The next morning, when I awoke, I found it rather late. It was odd enough
3*
36 "GIL BLAS.
that my servant did not make his appearance, after such particular orders. Am-
brose, thought I to myself, my devout Ambrose is either at church, o1 abomin-
ably lazy thismorning. But I soon let go this opinion of him to take upa worse ;
for getting out of bed, and seeing no portmanteau, I suspected him to have
stolen it during the night. To clear up my suspicions, I opened my chamber
door, and called the religious rascal over and overagain, An old man answer-
ed, saying—What is your pleasure, sir? All your folks left my house before
day-break, Your house! How now! exclaimed I ; am I not under Don Ra-
phael’s roof? I do not know the gentleman, said he. You are in a ready-
furnished lodging, and I am the landlord. Yesterday evening, an hour before
your arrival, the lady who supped with you came hither, and engaged this suite
of apartments for a nobleman of high rank, travelling zxcognito, as she called it.
She paid me beforehand. I was now in the secret. It was plain enough what
sort of people Camilla and Don Raphael were ; and I conjectured that my ser-
vant, having wormed himself into a complete knowledge of my concerns, had be-
trayed me to these impostors. Testedd | of blaming myself for this sad accident,
and considering that it could never have happened but for my indiscretion in so
unnecessarily betraying my confidence to Majuelo, I gave bad language to the poor
harmless dame fortune, and cursed my ill star in a hundred different formularies,
The master of the ready-furnished lodging, to whom I related the adventure,
which perhaps was as much his as mine, showed some little outward sensibility
to my affliction. He lamented over me, and protested he was Oey. mortified
that such a play should have been acted in his house ; but I verily believe, not-
withstanding his fine words, that he had an equal share in the cheat with mine
host at Burgos, to whom I have never denied the merit of so ingenious an in-
vention.
Cu, XVII.—TZhe measures Gil Blas took after the adventure of the ready-fur-
nished lodging.
AFTER the first transports of my grief were over, I began to consider, that in-
stead of giving way to remorse, I ought rather to bear up against my ill fate. I
summoned back my resolution, and, by way of comfort, said to myself as I was
dressing—I am still in luck that the knaves have not carried off my clothes and
what little money I had in my pocket. I gave them some credit for being so
considerate. They had even been generous enough to leave me my boots,
which I parted with to the landlord for a third of their cost. At last I sallied
out of the ready-furnished lodging, unencumbered, heaven be praised, with
baggage or attendance, ‘The first thing I did was to go and see if my mules
were still at the inn where we alighted the evening before. It was not to be
supposed that Ambrose would have neglected a due attention to them ; and it
would have been well for me if I had always taken such exact measure of his
character. I learned that he had not waited for the morning, but had been
careful to fetch them by over-night. Under these circumstances, satisfied I
should never see them again, any more than my portmanteau, I walked sulkily
along the streets, musing on the future plans I shouldadopt. Iwas tempted to
go back to Burgos, and once more have recourse to Donna Mencia ; but, re-
garding this as an abuse of that lady’s goodness, and being aware, moreover,
what a fool I should look like, I thought it best to forego that idea. I madea
vow too for the future to be on my guard against women. I could have sent
the chaste Susanna to the house of correction. From time to time my ring
caught my eye, it was a present from Camilla! and I was ready to burst
with anguish. Alas! thought I, I am no judge of jewellery, but I shall
be, by experience of these hucksters who exchange without a robbery. I
FABRICIO MEETS WITH GIL BLAS. 37
need not go toa jeweller to be told Iam an ass! I can see my own face in
my ruby.
Yet I did not neglect to know the truth respecting the value of my ring, and
showed it toa lapidary, who rated it at three ducats. At such an estimate,
though as much as I expected, I made a formal surrender to the devil, of the
Philippine isles, the governor and his niece ; or rather, I only restored his own
subjects to their lawful sovereign. As I was going out of the lapidary’s shop a
young fellow brushed by me, and on looking round, made a full stop. I could
not recollect his name at first, though his features were perfectly familiar to me.
How now, Gil Blas, said he, are you ashamed of an old acquaintance? or have
two years so altered the son of Nunez the barber, that you do not know him ?
Do not you recollect Fabricio, your townsman and schoolfellow? How often
have we kept, before Doctor Godinez, upon universals and metaphysics !
These words did not flow so fast as my recollection, and we embraced with
mutual good will. Well, my friend, resumed he, I am overjoyed to meet with
you. Words fall short...... But how is this? Why, you look like—as
heaven is my judge, you are dressed like a grandee! A gentleman’s sword, silk
stockings, a velvet doublet and cloak, embroidered with silver! Plague take it!
this is getting on in the world with a vengeance. I will lay a wager you are in
with some old monied harridan, You reckon without your host, said I, my.
affairs are not so prosperous as you imagine. ‘That will not do for me, replied
he, I know better things ; but you havea mind tobe close. And that fine ruby
on your finger, master Gil Blas, whence comes that, if I may beso bold? It
comes, quoth I, from an infernal jade. Fabricio, my dear Fabricio, far from
being point, quint, and quatorze with the ladies of Valladolid, youare to know,
my friend, that I am their complete bubble.
I uttered these last words so ruefully, that Fabricio saw plainly that some
trick had been played upon me. He was anxious to learn why I was out of
humour with the lovely sex. I had no difficulty in satisfying his curiosity ; but
as the story was a long one, and besides we had no mind to part in a hurry, we
went into a coffee-house to be a little more at ease. There I recounted to him,
during breakfast, all that had happened to me since my departure from Oviedo,
My adventures he thought whimsical enough ; and testifying his sympathy in
my present uneasy circumstances, added—We must make the best, my good lad,
of all our misfortunes in this life. Is a man of parts in distress ? he waits pa-
tiently for better luck. Such an one, as Cicero truly observes, never suffers
himself to be humbled so low, as to forget that he isa man, For my own part,
that is just my character ; in or out of favour there is no sinking me; I always
float on the surface of ill-luck. For example, I was in love with a girl of some
family at Oviedo, and was beloved by her in return. J asked her of her father
in marriage, he refused. Many a young fellow would have died of grief ; but
no! mark my spirit, I carried off the little baggage. She was lively, heedless,
and coquettish : pleasure consequently was always uppermost to the prejudice
of duty. I took her with me for six months backwards and forwards about
Galicia ; thence, adopting my taste for travelling, she had a mind to go to
Portugal, but in other company—more food for despair. Yet I did not give in
under the weight of this new affliction ; but, improving on Menelaus, thought my-
self much obliged to the Paris who had whispered in the ear of my Helen, for
ridding me of a bad bargain ; I therefore determined to keep the peace. After
that, not finding it convenient to return to the Asturias and balance accounts with
justice, I went forward into the kingdom of Leon, spending between one town
and another all the loose cash remaining from the rape of my Indian princess ;
for we had both of us birdlimed our fingers at our departure from Oviedo. I
got to Palencia with a solitary ducat, out of which I was obliged to buy a pair
38 GIL BLAS.
of shoes. The remainder would not go far. My situation became rather per-
plexing. I began already to be reduced to short allowance ; something must be
done. I resolved to go out to service. My first place was with a woollen-
draper in a large way, whose son was a lad of wit and fashion ; here was a com-
plete antidote to fasting, but then there was a little awkwardness, The father |
ordered me to dog the son, the son begged my assistance in imposing on the
father ; it was necessary to take one side or other. Entreaties sound more
musical than commands, and my taste for music got me turned out of doors,
The next service I entered into was with an old painter, who undertook, as a
matter of favour, to teach me the principles of his art ; but he was so busy in
feeding me with knowledge, that he forgot to give me any meat, This neglect
of substance for shadow disgusted me with my abode at Palencia. I came to
Valladolid, where, by the greatest good luck in the world, I was hired by a
governor of the hospital ; I am with him still, and delighted with my quarters.
My master, Signor Manuel Ordonnez, is a man of profound piety. He always
walks with his eyes cast downwards, and a large rosary in his hand. They say
that from his early youth, having been a close inspector of the poor, he has in-
terested himself in their affairs with unwearied zeal. Charity draws down a
blessing on the charitable, everything has prospered with him. What a fav-
ourite of heaven! The more he does for the poor, the richer he grows.
As Fabricio was going on in this manner, I interrupted him. It is well you
are satisfied with your lot ; but, between ourselves, surely you might play your
part better in the world. Do not you believe it, Gil Blas, replied he ; be as-
sured that for a man of my temper a more agreeable situation could not possibly
have been devised. The trade of a lacquey is toilsome, to be sure, for a poor
creature ; but for a lad of spirit it is all enchantment. A superior genius, when
he gets a service, does not go about it like a lumpish simpleton. He enters
into a family as viceroy over the master, not as an inferior minister. He begins
by measuring the length of his employer’s foot ; by lending himself to his weak-
nesses, he gains his confidence, and ends with leading him by the nose. Such
has been my plan of operation at the governor’s. I knew the pilgrim at once
by his staff ; his wish was for an earthly canonization. I pretended to believe
him to be the saint he wished to be taken for, hypocrisy costs nothing. Nay,
I went further, for I took pattern by him; and playing the same part before
him which he played before others, I out-cozened ihe coma, and by degrees
got to be major domo. I am in hopes some day or other, under his wing, to
have the fingering of the poor’s-box. It may bring a blessing upon me as well
as another; for I have caught the flame from him, and already feel deeply
for the interests of charity.
These are fine hopes, my dear Fabricio, replied I; and I congratulate you
upon them. For my part, I am determined on my first plan. I shall straight-
way convert my embroidered suit into a cassock, repair to Salamanca, and there,
enlisting under the banner of the university, fulfil the sacred duties of a tutor.
A fine scheme! exclaimed Fabricio, a pleasant conceit! What madness, at
your age, to turn pedant! Are you aware, you stupid fellow, what you take
upon yourself by that choice? As soon as you are settled, all the house will be
upon the watch, your most trivial actions will be minutely sifted. You will
lead a life of incessant constraint ; you must set yourself off with a counterfeit
outside, and affect to entertain a double set of the cardinal virtues in your
bosom. You will not have a moment to bestow on pleasure. The everlasting
censor of your pupil, your days will pass in teaching grammar and administer-
ing saintly reprehension, when he shall say or do anything against decorum.
After so much labour and confinement, what will be your reward? If the little
gentleman is a pickle, they will lay all the blame on your bad management ;
GIL BLAS APPLIES FOR A SITUATION. 39°
and you will be kicked out of the family, it may be without your stipend. Do
not tell me then of a tutor’s employment ; it is worse than a cure of souls. But
talk as much as you will about a lacquey’s occupation, that is a sinecure, and
pledges you to nothing. Suppose one’s master not to be immaculate? A
servant of superior genius will flatter his vices, and not unfrequently turn them
to account. A footman lives at his ease in a good family. After having ate
and drank his fill, he goes to bed peaceably, without troubling himself who
pays the bills.
I should never have done, my dear fellow, pursued he, were I to enumerate
all the advantages of service. Trust me, Gil Blas, discard for ever your foolish
wish of being a tutor, and follow my example. So be it: but, Fabricio, replied
I, governors like yours are not to be met with every day ; and if resolved to go
to service, I should like at least to get a good situation. Oh! you are in the
right, said he, and that shall be my concern. I will get you a comfortable place,
if it were only to snatch a fine fellow from the jaws of the university.
The near approach of poverty with which I was threatened, and Fabricio’s
apparent good case, having more weight with me than his arguments, I de-
termined to wear a livery. On which we sallied forth from the tavern, and my
townsman said: I am going to introduce you to a man, to whom most of the
servants resort when they are on the rambie ; he has eaves-droppers about him
to pick up all that passes in families. He knows at once where the servants are
going away, and keeps a correct register, not only of vacant places, but of vacant
masters, with their good and bad properties. The fellow has been a friar in some
convent or other. In short, he it was who got me my place.
While we were conversing about so singular an office of intelligence, the son
of Nunez the barber took me into a street which had no thoroughfare. We
went into a mean house, where we found a man about fifty writing at a table.
We wished him good day, with quite as much humility as became us: but,
whether it was from natural pride, or that, from a habit of seeing none but
lacqueys and coachmen, he had got a trick of receiving his company with an
easy freedom, without rising from his seat, he just gave a slight nod. He seemed
surprised that a young man in embroidered velvet should want a place ; he had
rather expected me to have wanted a servant. However, he was not kept long
in doubt, since Fabricio said at once: Signor Arias de Londona, give me leave
to introduce one of my best friends. He is a youth of good connections, whom
adverse circumstances have reduced to the necessity of going to service. Have
the goodness to provide for him handsomely, and you may trust to his gratitude.
Gentlemen, replied Arias coolly, this is the way with you all; before you are
settled, you make the finest promises in the world : but afterwards, Lord help
us ! your memories are very short. The deuce! replied Fabricio, why you do
not complain of me? Have not I done the thing genteelly? You ought to
have done it much better, rejoined Arias: your place is better than a clerk in a
public office, and you paid me as if I had quartered you upon a poor author.
Here I interfered, and told Master Arias, that to convince him I was not a
shabby fellow, I would make my acknowledgments beforehand ; at the same
time taking out two ducats, with an assurance of not stopping there if he got
me into a good berth.
He seemed to like my mode of dealing. There are, said he, some very good
places vacant. I will give you a list of them, and you shall take your choice.
With these words, he put on his spectacles, opened a register on the table,
turned over a few of the leaves, and began reading to this effect : Captain Tor-
bellino wants a footman ; a hasty, hair-brained, humoursome chap ; scolds in-
cessantly, swears, kicks his servants, and very often cripples them. Go on to
the next, cried I, at this picture ; such a captain will never do for me. My
40 GIL BLAS.
sprightliness made Arias smile, and he went on with his catalogue thus : Donna
Menuela de Sandoval, a superannuated dowager, peevish and fantastical, is in
want at this very time; she keeps but one, and him never for four-and-
twenty hours. There has been a livery in the house for these ten years, which
fits every new-comer, whether tall or short. They only just try it on; so that
it is as good as new, though it has had two thousand owners. Doctor Alvar
Fanez wants a journeyman ; an eminent member of the faculty! He boards
his family very handsomely, has everything comfortable about him, and
gives very high wages ; but he isa little too fond of experiments. When he
gets « parcel of bad drugs, which happens very often, there is a pretty quick suc-
cession of new servants,
Oh ! I do not in the least doubt it, interrupted Fabricio with a horse-laugh.
Upon my word, you give me a fine character of your customers. Patience, said
Arias de Londona ; we have not yet got to the end: there is variety enough.
Thereupon he continued to read on: Donna Alfonsa de Solis, an old devotee, who
lives two-thirds of her time at church, and always keeps her servant at her
apron string, has been in want for these three weeks. The Licentiate Sédillo,
an old prebendary of the chapter here, turned away his servant yesterday even-
iY Ss Halt there, Signor Arias de Londona, cried Fabricio at that passage ;
we will stick tothe church. The Licentiate Sédillo is one of my master’s friends,
and I am very well acquainted with him. I know he has for his houseke
an old hypocrite, called Dame Jacintha, who is complete mistress of the family.
It is one of the best houses in Valladolid. A very idle life, and plenty of excel-
lent meat and drink. Besides, his reverence is an old, gouty, infirm man, likely
soon to make his will: there is a legacy to be looked after. That is a delight-
ful prospect for one of our cloth! Gil Blas, added he, turning round to me,
let us lose no time, my friend, but go immediately to the licentiate’s house, I
will introduce you myself, and give you a character, At these words, for fear
of missing such an opportunity, we took a hasty leave of Signor Arias, who as-
sured me, for my money, that if I failed here, he would do something as good
for me elsewhere.
BOOK THE SECOND.
Cu. I.—Fabricio introduces Gil Blas to the Licentiate Sédillo, and procures him
a reception. The domestic economy of that clergyman. Picture of his housekeeper.
WE were so dreadfully afraid of offending against the regular hours of the old
licentiate, that we made but a hop, skip, and jump, from the street with one outlet,
to the prebendal residence. The gates were barred: but we ventured to an-
nounce our arrival. A girl of ten years old, the housekeeper’s professed niece,
and slander could not gainsay the relationship, opened the door to us. As we
asked to speak with his reverence, Dame Jacintha made her appearance. She
was a lady of ripe person and parts, but by no means past her prime; and I
was particularly attracted by the clearness of her complexion. She wore a long
woollen gown of the most ordinary quality, with a large leathern girdle, whence
hung suspended a bunch of keys on one side, and on the other a tremendous
string of beads. As soon as we got a glimpse of her, we made aur obeisances
with all possible reverence. She returned our salutation with similar good
breeding, but with an air of modesty, and eyes communing with the ground.
INTRODUCED T0 THE LICENTIATE SEDILLO. 41
I have been told, said my fellow servant, that the reverend the Licentiate Sé-
dillo wants an honest lad, and I have one at his service with whom he will be
well satisfied. The superintendent of the household turned up her eyes at these
words with a significant side glance at me ; and, finding it difficult to reconcile
my laced jacket with Fabricio’s exordium, asked if it was this fine gentleman
who was come after the place. Yes, said the son of Nunez, it is this interesting
and engaging youth, Just as you see him, the ups and downs of this transitory
life have compelled him to wear an epaulette: but fate will have made him
ample amends, added he with an affected languish, if he is so happy as to be
an inmate here, and to profit by the society of the virtuous Jacintha. The pa-
triarch of the Indies might have sighed for the virtuous Jacintha at the head of
his establishment. At these words, this withered branch of piety withdrew her
penetrating regards from me, to contemplate this courteous spokesman. Struck
with certain lines which were not new to her, in his face, I have some floating
idea of having seen you before, said she ; but my memory wants a lift. Holy
Jacintha, replied Fabricio, it is enough for me to have been blessed with your
pious notice. Twice have I been under this venerable roof with my master,
Signor Manuel Ordonnez, governor of the hospital. Ah! just so, answered the
lady chamberlain, I recollect! Youarean old acquaintance. Well-a-day now!
Your very belonging to Signor Ordonnez is enough to prove you a youth of merit
and strict propriety. A servant is known by his place, and this lad could not
have had a better sponsor. Come along with me ; I will introduce you to Signor
Sédillo. Iam sure he will be glad to engage a lad at your recommendation.
We followed Dame Jacintha. The canon lived in the lower part of the
house, in a comfortable suite of wainscotted apartments. She begged us to
wait a moment in the anti-chamber, while she went into the licentiate’s room.
After some private parley with him, merely that he might know what he was
about, she came to tell us we might walk in. We kenned the old cripple, im-
mersed in an elbow chair, with a pillow under his head, cushions under his
arms, and his legs supported on a large stool, stuffed with down. We were
no niggards of our bows as we advanced ; and Fabricio, still taking the lead,
not only repeated over again what he had said to the housekeeper, but set
about extolling my merit, and expatiated in an especial manner on the honours
I had gained in the schools under Doctor Godinez on all metaphysical ques-
tions : as if it was necessary for a prebendary’s footman to be as learned as his
master. However that might be, it served as a tub to the whale. Besides,
Dame Jacintha did not look forbidding, and my surety received the following
answer: Friend, I receive into my service the lad you recommend. I like
him well enough ; and as for his morals, they cannot be much amiss, since he
presents himself under the wing of a domestic belonging to Signor Ordonnez.
As soon as Fabricio saw me safe landed, he made a low bow to the prebend-
ary, a still lower to the lady, and withdrew in high good humour, whispering
in my ear that we should meet again, and that 1 had only to make good my
footing. As soon as he had left the room, the licentiate inquired my name,
why I had left my native place ; and drew me on by his questions to relate my
adventures before Dame Jacintha. They were both highly amused, above all
by my last rencounter. Camilla and Don Raphael gave such play to their
risible muscles, that I thought old chalkstone would have burst: for, as. he
laughed with all his might, so violent a cough laid hold of him, as went very
near to have carried him off. His will was not made. What an alarm for the
housekeeper! ‘Trembling, distracted, off she flew to the good man’s succour,
and just like a nurse with a puking child, paddled about his forehead and
tapped him on the back. Luckily it was a false alarm ; the old gentleman left
off coughing, and the housekeeper tormenting him. When it was over, I was
42 GIL BLAS. .
for going on with my narrative ; but Dame Jacintha, in awe of a second fit, set
herself against it. She therefore took me with her out of the room to a ward-
robe, where, among several suits, was that of my predecessor. This I was to
take, and leave my own in its room, which I was not sorry to see laid up safe,
in the hope it might be of further use. After this, we went together to get
dinner ready.
I knew what I was about in the art of dressing meat. Dame Leonarda, with
whom I had served my time, might have passed for a very decent plain cook ;
but a mere turnspit to dame Jacintha. The latter might almost have borne
away the bell from the archbishop of Toledo’s man. She was mistress of
everything ; gravy soups, of the most delicious texture and relish ; and, for
made dishes, she could season them up or soften them down to the most deli-
cate or voluptuous palate. At dinner-time we returned to his reverence’s apart-
ment. While I was arranging the grand concern close by his arm-chair, the
lady of all work crammed a napkin under the old boy’s chin, and pinned it be-
hind his back. Without losing a moment, in marched I with a stew, fit to be
set before the first gourmand in Madrid, and two courses, to have tickled the
‘gills of a viceroy, only that Dame Jacintha had touched the spice-box with dis-
cretion, for fear of exasperating the gout. - At the first glimpse of this goodly
mess, my old master, whom I conceived to have lost the use of his limbs, made
me to understand that his arms were exempted from the interdict. He availed
himself of their assistance, to get clear of his pillow and cushions, and proceeded
gaily to the attack. His hand shook, to be sure; but somehow or other it
contrived to do its duty. He sent it backwards and forwards fast enough ;
though it brought but half its cargo to the landing-place at a lading: the table-
cloth and napkin took toll. I carried off the soup when he had done, and
brought in a partridge flanked by two roast quails, which Dame Jacintha cut
up for him. She took care to make him take a good draught of wine, a little
lowered at proper intervals, out of a large, deep, silver cup, which she held to
his mouth, as if he had been an infant. He winged the pees and came
down slap-dash upon all the rest of the dishes. When he had done cramming,
that saint of the saucepan unpinned his napkin, reinstated his pillow and —
cushions ; then, leaving him composed in his arm-chair to the enjoyment of his
usual nap after dinner, we took away, and demolished the remainder with
appetites worthy of our master.
The dinner of to-day was the ordinary bill of fare. Our canon played the
best knife and fork in the chapter. But the supper was a mere bauble ; seldom
more than a chicken and a little confectionary, I larded my inside in this
house, and led a good easy life. There was but one awkward circumstance ;
and that was sitting up with my master, to save the expense of a nurse. Be-
sides a strangury, which kept him on the fidget ten times in an hour, he was
very much given to perspire ; and in that event, I shifted him. Gil Blas, said
he, on the second night, you are an active, clever fellow ; I foresee that we
shall jog on very well together. I only just give you a hint to keep in with
Dame Jacintha; the girl has been about me for these fifteen years, and
manages all my little matters ; she comforts my outward man, and I cannot do
too much for her. _ For that reason, you are to know, that she is more to me
than all my family. There is my nephew, my own sister’s son; why, I have —
turned him out of doors, only to please her. He had no regard for the poor
lass : and so far from giving her credit for all her little assiduities, the saucy
rascal swore she did not care a farthing for me! But now-a-days, young people
think virtue and gratitude all a farce. Heaven be praised, I am rid of the
varlet. What claim has blood, in comparison with unquestionable attachment ?
I am influenced by a give-and-take principle in my connections. You are
GIL BLAS GAINS FAVOUR WITH HIS MASTER. 43
right, sir, replied I; gratitude ought to be the first thing, and natural affection
the last. Ay! resumed he; and my will shall be a comment on that text.
My housekeeper shall be residuary legatee ; and you shall have a corner in a
codicil, if you go on as well as you have begun. The footman I turned off
yesterday has lost a good legacy, by not knowing where to hit the right nail on
the head. If the blockhead had not obliged me, by his ill behaviour, to send
him packing, I would have made a man of him: but the beggar on horseback
gave himself airs to Dame Jacintha! Then master lazy-bones did not like
sitting up! I might pass the night as I could, provided he had no trouble with
me. Oh! the unfeeling scoundrel! exclaimed I, in the true spirit of Fabricio,
he was not a man to be about so good a master. The lad for your money
should be a humble, but confidential friend ; he should not make a toil of what
ought to be a pleasure, but think nothing of going through fire and water for
your ease.
These professions were not lost upon the licentiate. Neither were my
assurances of due submission to Dame Jacintha’s authority less acceptable.
Puffing myself off for a servant, who was not afraid of work, I got through my
business as cheerfully as I could. I never complained of my nursery. Though
to be sure it was irksome enough ; and if the legacy had not settled my stomach,
I should have sickened at the nature of my employment. It is true I got some
hours’ rest during the day. The housekeeper, to do her justice, was kind
enough to me; owing to the insinuating manner in which I wormed myself
into her good graces. Suppose me at table, with her and her niece Inésilla! I
changed their plates, filled their glasses, never thought of my own dinner before
they had everything they wanted. This was the way to thrive in their esteem
One day when Dame Jacintha was gone to market, finding myself alone wit
Inésilla, I began to make myself agreeable. Were her father and mother
alive? Oh! no, answered she ; they have been dead this long, long time ; for
my good aunt says they have, and I have never seen them. I religiously be-
lieved the little innocent, though her answer was not of the clearest ; and she
got into such an humour of talking, as to tell me more than I wanted to know.
She informed me, or rather I inferred it from her artless simplicity, that her
good aunt had a good friend, who lived likewise with an old canon. The
temporalities of the church were under his administration ; and these lucky
domestics reckoned upon entwining the spoils of their masters round the pillars
of the hymeneal temple, into whose sanctuary they had penetrated by anticipa-
tion. Dame Jacintha, as I have said before, though a little stricken in years,
had still some bloom. To be sure, she spared no pains to cherish it : besides
daily evacuations, she took plentiful doses of all-powerful jelly. She got her
sleep in the.night too, while I sat up with my master. But what perhaps con-
tributed most to the freshness of this everlasting flower, was an issue in each
leg, of which I should never have known, but for that blab Inésilla,
Cu. Il.—TZhe canon’s illness ; his treatment ; the consequence; the legacy to
Lo Gil Blas.
-I STAID three months with the Licentiate Sédillo, without complaining of bad
tights. At the end of that time he fell sick. The distemper was a fever ; and
it inflamed the gout. For the first time in his life, which had been long, he
called in a physician. Doctor Sangrado was sent for; the Hippocrates of
Valladolid. Dame Jacintha was for sending for the lawyer first, and touched
that string ; but the patient thought it was time enough, and had a little will of
his own upon some points. Away I went therefore for Doctor Sangrado ; and
brought him with me. A tall, withered, wan executioner of the sisters three,
44 GIL BLAS.
who had done all their justice for at least these forty years! This learned
forerunner of the undertaker had an aspect suited to his office: his words were
weighed to a scruple ; and his jargon sounded grand in the ears of the unini-
tiated. His er were mathematical demonstrations ; and his opinions
had the merit of originality.
After studying my master’s symptoms, he began with medical solemnity:
The question here is, to remedy an obstructed perspiration. Ordinary practi-
tioners, in this case, would follow the old routine of salines, diuretics, volatile
salts, sulphur and mercury ; ce and sudorifics.are a deadly practice!
Chemical preparations are edged tools in the hands of the ignorant. My
methods are. more simple, and more efficacious. What is your usual diet? I
—live pretty much upon soups, replied the canon, and eat my meat with a
good deal of gravy. Soups and gravy! exclaimed the petrified doctor. Upon
my word, it is no wonder you are ill. High living is a poisoned bait ; a trap
set by sensuality, to cut short the days of wretched man. We must have done
with pampering our appetites: the more insipid, the more wholesome. The
human blood is not a gravy! Why then you must give it such a nourishment
as will assimilate with the particles of which it is composed. You drink wine,
I warrant you? Yes, said the licentiate, but diluted. Oh! finely diluted, I
dare say, rejoined the physician. ‘This is licentiousness with a vengeance!
A frightful course of feeding! Why, you ought to have died years ago. How
old are you? Iam in my sixty-ninth year, replied the canon. Sol rage
quoth the practitioner, a premature old age is always the consequence of in-
temperance. If you had only drank clear water all your life, and had beer
contented with plain food, boiled apples for instance, you would not have been
a martyr to the gout, and your limbs would have performed their functions
with lubricity. But I do not despair of setting you on your legs again, pro-
vided you give yourself up to my management. The licentiate promised to be
upon his good behaviour.
Sangrado then sent me for a surgeon of his own choosing, and took from
him six good porringers of blood, by way of a beginning, to remedy this obsti-
nate obstruction. He then said to the surgeon ; Master Martin Onez, you will |
take as much more three hours hence, and to-morrow you will repeat the oper-
ation. It isa mere vulgar error, that the blood is of any use in the system ;
the faster you draw it off the better. A patient has nothing to do but to keep
himself quiet ; with him, to live is merely not to die; he has no more occasion
for blood than a man in a trance; in both cases, life consists exclusively in
pulsation and respiration. When the doctor had ordered these frequent and
copious bleedings, he added a drench of warm water at very short intervals,
maintaining that water in sufficient quantities was the grand secret in the
materia medica. He then took his leave, telling Dame Jacintha and me,
with an air of confidence, that he would answer for the patient’s life, if his
system was fairly pursued. The housekeeper, though protesting secretly against
this new practice, bowed to his superior authority. In fact, we set on the
kettles in a hurry; and, as the physician had desired us above all things to give
him enough, we began with pouring down two or three pints at as many gulps.
An hour after we beset him again; then, returning to the attack time after
time, we fairly poured a deluge into his poor stomach. The surgeon, on the
other hand, taking out the blood as we put in the water, we reduced the old
canon to death’s door in less than two da
This venerable ecclesiastic, able to hold it out no longer, as I pledged him
in a large glass of his new cordial, said to me in a faint voice—Hold, Gil Blas,
do not give me any more, my friend. _ It is plain death will come when he will
come, in spite of water; and, though I have hardly a drop of blood in my veins,
re.
i
DEATH OF SEDILLO. 45
I am no better for getting rid of the enemy. The ablest physician in the world
can do nothing for us, when our time is expired. Fetch a notary ; I will make
my will. At hese last words, pleasing enough to my fancy, I affected to appear
unhappy; and concealing my inipatience to be gone: Sir, said I, you are not
reduced so low, thank God, but you may yet recover. No, no, interrupted he,
my good fellow, it is all over. I feel the gout shifting, and the hand of death
is upon me. Make haste, and go where I told you. I saw, sure enough, that
he changed every moment: and the case was so urgent, that I ran as fast as I
could, leaving him in Dame Jacintha’s care, who was more afraid than myself
of his dying without a will. I laid hold of the first notary I could find; Sir,
said I, the Licentiate Sédillo, my master, is drawing near his end; he wants
to settle his affairs; there is not a moment to be lost. The notary was a dapper
little fellow, who loved his joke ; and inquired who was our physician. At
the name of Doctor Sangrado, hurrying on his cloak and hat: For mercy’s
sake! cried he, let us set off with all possible speed ; for this doctor dispatches
business so fast, that our fraternity cannot keep pace with him. That fellow
spoils half my jobs.
With this sarcasm, he set forward in good earnest, and, as we pushed on, to
get the start of the grim tyrant, I said to him: Sir, you are aware that a dying
testator’s memory is sometimes a little short ; should my master chance to for-
get me, be so good as to put ina word in my favour. That I will, my lad,
replied the little proctor; you may rely on it. I will urge something handsome,
if I have an opportunity. The licentiate, on our arrival, had still all his faculties
about him. Dame Jacintha was by his bedside, laying in her tears by wholesale.
She had played her game, and bespoken a handsome remembrance. We left
the notary alone with my master, and went together into the anti-chamber,
where we met the surgeon, sent by the physician for another and a last experi-
ment. We laid hold of him, Stop, Master Martin, said the housekeeper, you
cannot go into Signor Sédillo’s room just now. He is giving his last orders ;
but you may bleed away when the will is made.
We were terribly afraid, this pious gentlewoiaan and I, lest the licentiate
should go off with his will half finished; but by good luck, the important deed
was executed. We saw the proctor come out, who, finding me on the watch,
slapped me on the shoulder, and said with a simper: Gil Blas is not forgotten.
At these words, I felt the most lively joy; and was so well pleased with my
master for his kind notice, that I promised myself the pleasure of praying
for his soul after death, which event happened anon; for the surgeon having
bled him once more, the poor old man, quite exhausted, gave up the ghost ,
under the lancet. Just as he was breathing his last, the physician made his<
appearance, and looked a little foolish, notwithstanding the universality of his
death-bed experience. Yet far from imputing the accident to the new practice,
he walked off, affirming with intrepidity, that it was owing to their having been
too lenient with the lancet, and too chary of their warm water. The medical
executioner, I mean the surgeon, seeing that his functions also were at an end,
followed Doctor Sangrado, . }
As soon as we saw the breath out of our patron’s body, Dame Jacintha,
Inésilla, and myself, joined in a decent chorus of funeral lamentation, loud
enough to produce a proper effect in the neighbourhood. The emblem of a
life to come, though she had more reason than any of us to rejoice, took the
soprano part, and screamed out her afflictions in a most pathetic manner. The
room in an instant was crowded with people, attracted less by compassion than
curiosity. The relations of the deceased no sooner got wind of his departure
than they pounced down upon the premises, and sealed: up everything, From
the housekeeper’s distress, they thought there was no will; but they soon found
46 GIL BLAS.
their mistake, and that there was one without a flaw. When it was opened,
and they learned the disposition of the testator’s principal property, in favour
of Dame Jacintha and the little girl, they pronounced his funeral oration in
terms not a little disparaging to his memory. They gave a broad apostrophe
at the same time to the godly legatee, and a few blessings to me in my turn,
It must be owned I had earned them. The licentiate, heaven reward him for
it, to secure my remembrances through life, expressed himself thus in a para-
graph of his will—J/éem, as Gil Blas has already some little smattering of
literature, to encourage his studious habits, I give and bequeath to him my library,
all my books and my manuscripts, without any drawback or exception.
I could not conceive where this said library might be; I had never seen
any. I only knew of some papers, with five or six bound books, on two little
deal shelves in my master’s closet; and that was my legacy. The books too
could be of no great use to me; the title of one was, The complete Man Cook ;
another, A Treatise on Indigestion, with the Methods of Cure; the rest were
the four parts of the breyiary, half eaten up by the worms. In the article of
manuscripts, the most curious consisted of documents relating to a lawsuit in
which the prebendary was once engaged for his stall. After having examined
my legacy with more minuteness than it deserved, I made over my right and
title to these invidious relations. I even renounced my livery, and took back my
own suit, claiming my wages as my only reward. I then went to look out for
other place. g As for Dame Jacintha, besides her residue under the will, she
1ad some snug little articles, which, by the help of her good friend, she had
appropriated to her own use during the last illness of the licentiate.
Cu. IIl.—Gil Blas enters into Doctor Sangrado’s service, and becomes a@
Jamous practitioner.
I DETERMINED to throw myself in the way of Signor Arias de Londona, and
, tolook out for a new berth in his register; but as I was on my way to No
> Thoroughfare, gvho should come across me but Doctor Sangrado, whom I had
not seen since the day of my master’s death. I took the liberty of touching my
hat. He kenned me ina twinkling, though I had changed my dress; and
with as much warmth as his temperament would allow him; Hey day! said.
he, the very lad I wanted to see; you have never been out of my thought. I
have occasion for a clever fellow about me, and pitched upon you as the very
thing, if you can read and write. Sir, replied I, if that is all you require, Iam
your man. In that case, rejoined he, we need look no further. Come home
with me; it will be all comfort: I shall behave to you like a brother. You
will have no wages, but everything will be found you. You shall eat and
drink according to the true faith, and be taught to cure all diseases. Ina
word, you shall rather be my young Sangrado than my footman, :
I closed in with the doctor’s proposal, in the hope of becoming an Esculapius .
under so inspired a master. He carried me home on the spur of the-occasion,
to instal me in my honourable employment; which honourable employment
consisted in writing down the name and residence of the patients who sent for
him in his absence. There had indeed been a register for this purpose, kept by
an old domestic; but she had not the gift of spelling accurately, and wrote a
most perplexing hand. This account I was to keep. It might truly be called
a bill of mortality; for my members all went from bad to worse during the
short time they continued in this system. I was a sort of book-keeper for the
other world, to take places in the stage, and to see that the first come were the
first served. My pen was always in my hand, for Doctor Sangrado had more
practice than any physician of his time in Valladolid, He had got into repu-
GIL BLAS IN SANGRADOS SERVICE. 47
tation with the public by a certain professional slang, humoured by a medical
face, and some extraordinary cases, more honoured by implicit faith than scru-
pulous investigation. ie
He was in no want of patients, nor consequently of property. He did not
keep the best house in the world : we lived with some little attention to economy.
The usual bill of fare consisted of peas, beans, boiled apples or cheese. He
considered this food as best suited to the human stomach, that is to say,
as most amenable to the grinders, whence it was to encounter the pro-
cess of digestion. Nevertheless, easy as was their passage, he was not for
stopping the way with too much of them : and, to be sure, he was in the right.
But though he cautioned the maid and me against repletion in respect of solids,
it was made up by free permission to drink as much water as we liked. Far
from prescribing us any limits there, he would tell us sometimes—Drink, my
children ; health consists in the pliability and moisture of the parts. Drink
water by pails full, it is a universal dissolvent ; water liquefies all the salts.
Is the course of the blood a little sluggish ? this grand principle sets it forward :
too rapid? its career is checked. Our doctor was so orthodox on this head,
that he drank nothing himself but water, though advanced in years. He
defined old age to be a natural consumption which dries us up and wastes us
away: on this principle, he deplored the ignorance of those who call wine
old men’s milk. He maintained that wine wears them out and corrodes them,
and pleaded with all the force of eloquence against that liquor, fatal in com-
mon both to the young and old, that friend with a serpent in its bosom, that
pleasure with a dagger under its girdle.
In spite of these fine arguments, at the end of a week a looseness ensued,
with some twinges, which I was blasphemous enough to saddle on the universal
dissolvent, and the new-fashioned diet. I stated my symptoms to my master,
in the hope he would relax the rigour of his regimen, and qualify my meals with
a little wine, but his hostility to that liquor was inflexible. If you have not
philosophy enough, said he, for pure water, there are innocent infusions to
strengthen the stomach against the nausea of aqueous quaffings. Sage, for
example, has a very pretty flavour: and if you wish to heighten it into a de-
bauch, it is only mixing rosemary, wild poppy, and other simples, but no com-
ounds.
In vain did he crack off his water, and teach me the secret of composing
delicious messes. I was so abstemious, that, remarking my moderation, he
said—In good sooth, Gil Blas, I marvel not that you are no better than you
are; you do not drink enough, my friend. Water taken in a small quantity
serves only to separate the particles of bile and set them in action ; but our
practice is to drown them ina copious drench. Fear not, my good lad, lest a
superabundance of liquid should either weaken or chill your stomach; far from
thy better judgment be that silly fear of unadulterated drink. I will ensure
you against all consequences ; and if my authority will not serve your turn, read
Celsus. That oracle of the ancients makes an admirable panegyric on water ;
in short, he says in plain terms that those who plead an inconstant stomach in
favour of wine, publish a libel on their own bowels, and make their organization
a pretence for their sensuality.
As it would have been ungenteel in me to have run riot on my entrance into
the career of practice, I affected thorough conviction ; indeed, I thought there
was something init. I therefore went on drinking water on the authority of
Celsus, or, to speak in scientific terms, I began to drown the bile in copious
drenches of that unadulterated liquor; and théugh I felt myself more out of
order from day to day, prejudice won the cause against experience. It is
evident, therefore, that I was in the right road to the practice of physic. Yet
3
GIL BLAS.
T could not always be insensible to the qualms which increased in my frame, to
that degree, as to determine me on quitting Doctor Sangrado. But he invested
me with a new office which changed my tone. Hark you, my child, said he to
me one day, I am not one of those hard and ungrateful masters, who leave their
household to grow grey in service without a suitable reward. I am well pleased
with you, I have a regard for you, and without waiting till you have served your
time, I will make your fortune. Without more ado, I will initiate you in the
healing art, of which I have for so many years been at the head. Other phy-
sicians make the science to consist of various unintelligible branches ; but I will
shorten the road for you, and dispense with the drudgery of studying natural
philosophy, pharmacy, botany, and anatomy. Remember, my friend, that
bleeding and drinking warm water are the two grand principles; the true
secret of curing all the distempers incident to humanity. Yes, this marvellous
secret which I reveal to you, and which nature, beyond the reach of my col-
leagues, has failed in rescuing from my pen, is comprehended in these two
articles—namely, bleeding and drenching. Here you have the sum total of m
philosophy ; you are thoroughly bottomed in medicine, and may raise yourself
to the summit of fame on the shoulders of my long-experience. You may enter
into partnership at once, by keeping the books in the morning, and going out
to visit patients in the afternoon. While I dose the nobility and clergy, you
shall labour in your vocation among the lower orders ; and when you have felt
our ope a little, I will get you admitted into our body. You are a phi-
osopher, Gil Blas, though you have never graduated ; the common herd of
them, though they have graduated in due form and order, are likely to run out
the length of their tether without knowing their right hand from their left.
I thanked the doctor for having so speedily enabled me to serve as his deputy ;
-and, by way of acknowledging his goodness, promised to follow his system to
the end of my career, with a magnanimous indifference about the aphorisms of
Hippocrates. But that engagement was not to be taken to the letter. This
tender attachment to water went against the grain, and I had a scheme for
drinking wine every day snugly among the patients. I left off wearing my own
suit a second time, to take up one of my master’s, and look like an inveterate
practitioner. After which I brought my medical theories into play, leaving them
to look to the event whom it might concern. I began on an alguazil in a
pleurisy ; he was condemned to be bled with the utmost rigour of the law, at
the same time that the system was to be replenished copiously with water) Next
made a lodgment in the veins of a gouty pastry-cook, who roared like a lion
by reason of gouty spasms. I stood on no more ceremony with his blood than
‘ Ate that of the alguazil, and laid no restriction on his taste for simple liquids.
fv" My prescriptions brought me in twelve rials ; an incident so auspicious in my
professional career, that I only wished for the plagues of Egypt on all the hale
bibjects of Valadli, As I was coming out of the pastry-cook’s whom should
ry ut Fabricio, a total stranger since the death of the licentiate Sédillo!
He looked at me with astonishment for some seconds ; then set up a laugh with
all his might, and held his sides. He had no reason to be grave, for I hada
cloak trailing on the ground, with a doublet and breeches of four times my
natural dimensions. I was certainly a complete original. I suffered him to
make merry as long as he liked, and could scarcely help joining in the ridicule ;
but I kept a guard on my muscles to preserve a becoming dignity in public, and
the better to enact the physician, whose part in society is not that of a buffoon.
If the absurdity of my appearance excited Fabricio’s merriment, my affected
gravity added zest to it; and when he had nearly exhausted his lungs—By all
the powers, Gil Blas, quoth he, thou art in complete masquerade. Who the
devil has dressed you up in this manner? Fair and softly, my friend, replied I,
GIL BLAS PRACTISING PHYSIC. 49
fair and softly, be a little on your good behaviour with a modern Hippoc
Understand me to be the substitute of Doctor Sangrado, the most eminent phy-
sician in Valladolid. I have lived with him these three weeks. He has bot-
tomed me thoroughly in medicine; and, as he cannot perform the obsequies of
all the patients who send for him, I visit a part of them to take the burden off
his conscience. He does execution in great families, I among the vulgar.
Vastly well, replied Fabricio; that is to say, he grants you a lease on the blood
of the commonalty, but keeps to himself the fee-simple of the fashionable world.
I wish you joy of your lot; it isa pleasanter line of practice among the populace
than among great folk. Long live a snug connection in the suburbs ! a man’s
mistakes are easily buried, and his murders elude all but God’s revenge. Yes,
my brave boy, your destiny is truly enviable; in the language of Alexander,
were I not Fabricio, I could wish to be Gil Blas.
To show the son of Nunez, the barber, that he was not much out in his
reckoning on my present happiness, I chinked the fees of the alguazil and the
pastry-cook; and this was followed by an adjournment to a tavern, to drink
to their perfect recovery. The wine was very fair, and my impatience~for the
well-known smack made me think it better than it was. I took some good
long draughts, and without gainsaying the Latin: oracle, in proportion as I
poured it into its natural reservoir, I felt my accommodating entrails to owe me
no grudge for the hard service into which I pressed them. As for Fabricio and
myself, we sat some time in the tavern, making merry at the expense of our
masters, as servants are too much accustomed todo. At last, seeing the night
approach, we parted, after engaging to meet at the same place on the following
day after dinner.
Cu. I1V.—Gil Blas goes on practising physic with equal success and ability.
Adventure of the recovered ring.
I WAS no sooner at home than Doctor Sangrado came in. I talked to him
about the patients I had seen, and paid into his hands eight remaining rials of the
twelve I had received for my prescriptions. Eight rials! said he, as he counted
them, mighty little for two visits! But we must take things as we find them.
In the spirit of taking things as he found them, he laid violent hands on six,
giving me the other two—Here, Gil Blas, continued he, see what a foundation
to build upon, I make over to you the fourth of all you may bring me. You
will soon feather your nest, my friend; for, by the blessing of Providence, there
will be a great deal of ill health this year.
I had reason to be content with my dividend; since, having determined to
keep back the third part of what I received in my rounds, and afterwards touch-
ing another fourth of the remainder, half of the whole, if arithmetic is anything
more than a deception, would become my perquisite. This inspired me with
new zeal for my profession. The next day, as soon as I had dined, I resumed
my medical paraphernalia, and took the field once more. I visited several
patients on the list, and treated their several complaints in one invariable routine.
Hitherto things went on under the rose, and no individual, thank heaven, had
risen up in rebellion against my prescriptions. But let a physician’s cures be as
extraordinary as they will, some quack or other is always ready to rip up his re-
putation. 1 was,called in to a grocer’s son ina dropsy. Whom should I find
there before me but a little black-looking physician, by name Doctor Cuchillo,
introduced by a relation of the family. I bowed round most profoundly, but
dipped lowest to the personage whom I took to have been invited to a consult-
ation with me. He returned my compliment with a distant air; then, having
stared me in the face for a few seconds—Signor Doctor, said he, I beg pardon
50 GIL BLAS.
for being inquisitive, I thought I had been acquainted with all my brethren in
Valladolid, but I confess your physiognomy is altogether new. You must have
been settled but a short time in town. I avowed myself a young practitioner,
acting as yet under the direction of Doctor Sangrado. I wish you joy, replied
he politely, you are studying under a great man, You must doubtless have
seen a vast deal of sound practice, young as you yt oer to be. He spok@this
with so easy an assurance, that I was at a loss whether he meant it seriously, or
was laughing at me. While I was conning over my reply, the grocer, seizing
on the opportunity, said—Gentlemen, I am persuaded of your both being per-
fectly competent in your art; have the goodness without ado to take the case
in hand, and devise some effectual means for the restoration of my son’s health.
Thereupon the little pulse-counter set himself about reviewing the patient’s
situation ; and after having dilated to me on all the symptoms, asked me what
I thought the fittest method of treatment. Iam of opinion, replied I, that he
should be bled once a day, and drink as much warm water as he can swallow.
At these words, our diminutive doctor said to me with a malicious simper—And
so you think such a course will save the patient? Never doubt it, exclaimed I
in a confident tone; it must produce that effect, because it is a certain method
of cure for all distempers. Ask Signor Sangrado. At that rate, retorted he,
Celsus is altogether in the wrong; for he contends that the readiest way to cure
a dropsical subject-is to let him almost dieof hunger.and thirst. Oh! as for
Celsus, interrupted I, he is no oracle of mine, as fallible as the meanest of us ;
I often have occasion to bless myself for going contrary to his dogmas, I dis-
cover by your language, said Cuchillo, the safe and sure method of practice
Doctor Sangrado instils into his pupils. Bleeding and drenching are the extent
of his resources. No wonder so many worthy people are cut off under his di-
rection..... No defamation ! interrupted I with some acrimony; a member
of the faculty had better not begin throwing stones. Come, come, my learned
doctor, patients can get to the other world without bleeding and warm water ;
and I question whether the most deadly of us has ever signed more passports
than yourself. If you have any crow to pluck with Signor Sangrado, write
against him, ‘he will answer you, and we shall soon see who will have the best
of the battle. By all the saints in the calendar! swore he, in a transport of
passion, you little know whom you are talking to. I have a tongue and a fist,
my friend; and am not afraid of Sangrado, who, with all his arrogance and
affectation, is but a ninny. The size of the little death-dealer made me hold
his anger cheap. I gave hima sharp retort; he sent back as good as I brought,
till at last we came to cuffs. We had pulled a few handfuls of hair from each
other’s heads before the grocer and his kinsman could part us. When they had
. brought this about, they feed me for my attendance, and retained my antagonist,
vhom they thought the more skilful of the two.
/ Another adventure succeeded close on the heels of this. I went to see a
huge chanter in a fever. As soon as he heard me talk of warm water, he
showed himself so averse to this specific, as to fall into a fit of swearing. He
abused me in all possible shapes, and threatened to throw me out at window. I
was in a greater hurry to get out of his house than to getin. I did not choose to
see any more patients that day, and repaired to the inn where I had agreed to
meet Fabricio, He was there first. As we found ourselves in a tippling hu-
mour, we drank hard, and returned to our employers in a pretty pickle, that is
to say, so-so in the upper story. Signor Sangrado was not aware of my being
drunk, because he took the lively gestures which accompanied the relation of
my quarrel with the little doctor, for an effect of the agitation not yet subsided
after the battle. Besides, he came in for his share in my report; and pp
himself nettled by Cuchillo—You have done well, Gil Blas, said he, to defen
THE EXCELLENCE OF WATER. 51
the character of our practice against this little abortion of the faculty. So he
takes upon him to set his face against watery drenches in dropsical cases? An
ignorant fellow! I maintain, I do, in my own person, that the use of them
may be reconciled to the best theories. Yes, water is a cure for all sorts of
dropsies, just as it is good for rheumatisms and the green sickness. _It is excel-
lent,éoo, in those fevers where the effect is at once to parch and to chill, and even
miraculous in those disorders ascribed to cold, thin, phlegmatic, and pituitous
humours. This opinion may seem strange to young practitioners like Cuchillo ;
but it is right orthodox in the best and soundest systems : so that if persons of
that description were capable of taking a philosophical view, instead of crying
me down, they would become my most zealous advocates.
In his rage, he never suspected me of drinking: for, to exasperate him still
more against the little doctor, I had thrown into my recital some circumstances
of my own addition. Yet, engrossed as he was by what I had told him, he
could not help taking notice that I drank more water than usual that evening.
In fact, the wine had made me very thirsty. Any one but Sangrado would
have distrusted my being so very dry, as to swallow down glass after glass :
but as for him, he took it for granted, in the simplicity ofhis heart, that I began
to acquire a relish for aqueous potations. Apparently, Gil Blas, said he with
a gracious smile, you have no longer such a dislike to water. As heaven is my
judge! you quaff it off like nectar. It is no wonder, my friend, I was certain
you would take a liking to that liquor. Sir, replied I, there is a tide in the
affairs of men: with my present lights, I would give all the wine in Valladolid
for a pint of water. This answer delighted the doctor, who would not lose so
fine an opportunity of expatiating on the excellence of water. « He undertook to
ring the changes once more in its praise, not like a hireling pleader, but as an
enthusiast in the cause. A thousand times, exclaimed he, a thousand anda
thousand times of greater value, as being more innocent than our modern
taverns, were those baths of ages past, whither the people went not shamefully
to squander their fortunes and expose their lives, by swilling themselves with
wine, but assembled there for the decent and economical amusement of drink-
ing warm water. It is difficult enough to admire the patriotic forecast of those
ancient politicians, who established places of public resort, where water was °
dealt out gratis to all comers, and who confined wine to the shops of the
apothecaries, that its use might be prohibited but under the direction of phy-
sicians. What a stroke of wisdom! It is doubtless to preserve the. seeds of
that antique frugality, emblematic of the golden age, that persons are found
to this day, like you and me, who drink nothing but water, and are persuaded
they possess a prevention or a cure for every ailment, provided our warm water
has never boiled ; for I have observed that water, when it has boiled, is heavier, —
and sits less easily on the stomach.
While he was holding forth thus eloquently, I was in danger more than once
of splitting my sides with laughing. But I contrived to keep my countenance :
nay, more ; to chime in with the doctor’s theory. I found fault with the use
of wine, and pitied mankind for having contracted an untoward relish to so
pernicious a beverage. Then, finding my thirst not sufficiently allayed, I filled
a large goblet with water, and after having swilled it like a horse: Come, sir,
said I to my master, let us drink plentifully of this beneficial liquor. Let us
make those early establishments of dilution you so much regret, to live again in
your house. He clapped his hands in ecstacy at these words, and preached to
me for a whole hour about suffering no liquid but water to passmy lips. To
confirm the habit, I promised to drink a large quantity every evening; and, to
keep my word with less violence to my private inclinations, 1 went to bed with a
determined purpose of going to the tavern every day.
GIL BLAS.
The trouble I had got into at the grocer’s did not discourage me from phle-
botomizing and prescribing warm water in the usual course. Coming out of
a house where I had been visiting a poet ina phrenzy, I was accosted in the
street by an old woman who came up and asked me if I was a physician. I
said yes. As that is the case, teplied: she, I entreat you with all humility to go
along with me. My niece has been ill since yesterday, and I cannot conceive
what is the matter with her. I followed the old lady to her house, where I
was shown into a very decent room, occupied by a female who kept her bed.
I went near, to consider her case. Her features struck me from the first ; and
I discovered beyond the possibility of a mistake, after having looked at her
some little time, the she-adventurer who had played the part of Camilla so
adroitly. For her part, she did not seem to recollect me at all, whether from
the oppression of her disorder, or from my dress as a physician rendering me
not easy to be known again. I took her by the hand, to feel her pulse; and
saw my ring upon her finger. I was all in a twitter at the discovery of a
valuable, on which I had a claim both in law and equity. Great was my
longing to make a snatch at it; but considering that these fair ones would set
up a great scream, and that Don Raphael or some other defender of injured
innocence might rush in to their rescue, I laid an embargo on my privateering.
I thought it best to come by my own in an honest way, and to consult Fabricio
about the means. To this last course I stuck. In the mean time the old
woman urged me to inform her with what disease her niece was troubled. I
was not fool enough to own my ignorance ; on the contrary, I took upon my-
self as a man of science, and after my master’s example, pronounced solemnly
that the disorder accrued to the patient from the defect of natural perspiration ;
that consequently she must lose blood as soon as possible, because if we could
not open one pore, we always open another: and I finished my prescription
with warm water, to do the thing methodically.
I shortened my visit as much as possible, and ran to the son of Nunez, whom
I met just as he was going out on an errand for his master. I told him my
new adventure, and asked his advice about laying an information against
Camilla. Pooh! Nonsense! replied he; that would not be the way to get
your ring again. ‘Those gentry think restitution double trouble. Call to mind
your imprisonment at Astorga ; your horse, your money, your very clothes, did
not they all centre in the hands of justice? We must rather set our wits to
work for the recovery of your diamond. I take on myself the charge of in-
venting some stratagem for that purpose. I will deliberate on it in my way to
the hospital, where I have to say but two words from my master to the purveyor.
Do you wait for me at our house of call, and do not be on the fret: I will be
with you shortly.
I had waited, however, more than three hours at the appointed place, when
he arrived. I did not know him again at first. Besides that he had changed
his dress and platted his hair, a pair of false whiskers covered half his face. He
wore an immense sword with a hilt of at least three feet in circumference, and
marched at the head of five men of as swaggering an air as himself, with bushy
whiskers and long rapiers. Good day to you, Signor Gil Blas, said he by way
of salutation ; behold an alguazil upon a new construction, and marshalmen
of like materials in these brave fellows my companions. We have only to be
shown where the woman lodges who purloined the diamond, and we will obtain
restitution, take my word for it. I hugged Fabricio at this discourse, which let
me into the plot, and testified loudly my approval of the expedient. I paid my
respects also to the masquerading wrap They were three servants and
two journeymen barbers of his acquaintance, whom he had engaged to act this
farce. I ordered wine to be served round to the detachment, and we all went
ADVENTURE OF THE STOLEN RING. aR iC:
together at night-fall to Camilla’s residence. The door was shut, and we knocked.
The old woman, taking my companions to be on the scent of justice, and knowing
they would not come into that neighbourhood for nothing, was terribly fright-
ened. Cheer up again, good mother, said Fabricio ; we are only come kere
upon a little business which will be soon settled. At these words we made our
entry, and found our way to the sick chamber, under the guidance of the old
dowager who walked before us, and by favour of a wax taper which she carried
in a silver candlestick. I took the light, went to the bed-side, and, making
Camilla take particular notice of my features, Traitress, said I, call to mind the
too credulous Gil Blas whom you have deceived. Ah! thou wickedness per-
sonified, at last I have caught thee. The corregidor has taken down my depo-
sition, and ordered this alguazil toarrest you. Come, officer, said I to Fabricio,
do your duty. There is no need, replied he, swelling his voice, to inflame my
severity. The face of that wretch is not new tome: she has long been marked
with red letters in my pocket-book. Get up, my princess, dress your royal
person with all possible dispatch. I will be your squire, and lodge you in dur-
ance vile, if you have no objection.
At these words, Camilla, ill as she was, observing two marshalmen with
large whiskers ready to drag her out of bed by main force, sat up of herself,
clasped her hands in an attitude of supplication ; and looking at me ruefully,
said, Signor Gil Blas, have compassion on me: I call as a witness to my en-
treaties the chaste mcther whose virtues you inherit. Guilty as I am, my mis-
fortunes are greater than mycrimes. I will give you back your diamond, so do
not be my ruin. Speaking to this effect, she drew my ring from her finger, and
gave itme back. But I told her my diamond was not enough, and that she
must refund the thousand ducats they had embezzled in the ready-furnished
lodging. Oh! as for your ducats, replied she, ask me not about them. That
false-hearted deceiver, Don Raphael, whom I have not seen from that time to
this, carried them off the very same night. O ho! my little darling, said Fa-
bricio in his turn, that will not do, you had a hand in the robbery, whether you
went snacks in the profit or no. You will not come off so cheaply. Your
having been accessary to Don Raphael’s manceuvres is enough to render you
liable to an examination. Your past life is very equivocal ; and you must have
a good deal upon your conscience. You will have the goodness, if you please,
just to step into the town jail, and there unburden yourself by a general con-
fession. This good old lady shall keep you company ; it is hard if she cannot
tell a world of curious stories, such as Mr Corregidor will be delighted to hear,
The two women, at these words, brought every engine of pity into play to
soften us, They filled the air with cries, complaints, and lamentations. While
the old woman on her knees, sometimes to the alguazil and sometimes to his
attendants, endeavoured to melt their stubborn hearts, Camilla implored me, in
the most touching terms, to save her from the hands of justice. I pretended to
relent. Officer, said I to the son of Nunez, since I have got my diamond, I do
not much care about anything else. It would be no pleasure to me to be the
means of pain to that poor woman ; I want not the death of a sinner. Out
upon you, answered he, you set up for humanity ! you would make a bad tip-
staff. I must do my errand, My positive orders are to arrest these virgins of
the sun ; his honour the corregidor means to make an example of them. Nay!
for mercy’s sake, replied I, pay some little deference to my wishes, and slacken
a little of your severity, on the ground of the present these ladies are on the
point of offering to your acceptance. Oh! that is another matter, rejoined he ;
that is what you may call a figure of rhetoric suited to all capacities and all
occasions. Well, then, let us see, what have they to give me? I have a pearl
- necklace, said Camilla, and drop ear-rings of considerable value. Yes ; but,
54 GIL BLAS.
interrupted he roughly, if these articles are the produce of the Philippine Isles,
I will have none of them. You may take them in perfect safety, replied she :
I warrant them real, At the same time she made the old woman bring a little
box, whence she took out the necklace and ear-rings, which she put within the
grasp of this incorruptible minister. Though he was much such a judge of
jewellery as myself, he had no doubt of the drops being real, as well as the
pearls. These trinkets, said he, after having looked at them minutely, seem to
be of good quality and fashion : and if the silver candlestick is thrown into the
bargain, I would not answer for my own honesty. You had better not, said I
in my turn to Camilla, for a trifle, reject so moderate and fair a composition.
While uttering these words, I returned the taper to the old woman, and handed
the candlestick over to Fabricio, who, stopping there because perhaps he espied
nothing else that was portable in the room, said to the two women : Farewell,
my dainty misses, set your hearts at rest, I will report you to his worship the
corregidor, as purer than unsmutched snow. We can turn him round our finger ;
and never tell him the truth, but when we are not paid for our lies,
Cu, V.—Seguel of the foregoing adventure. Gil Blas retires from practice,
and from the neighbourhood of Valladolid.
AFTER having thus carried Fabricio’s plan into effect, we took our leave of
Camilla’s lodging, hugging ourselves on a success, beyond our expectation ; for
we had only reckoned on the ring. We carried off without ceremony all we
could get besides. Far from making it a point of conscience not to steal from
a description of ladies whose names are commonly associated with rogues, we
thought to cover some scores of other sins by so meritorious an action. Gentle-
men, said Fabricio, when we were in the street, my counsel is for returning to
our tavern, and devoting the night to a regale. ‘To-morrow we will sell the
candlestick, the necklace, the drop ear-rings, and then share the prize money
like brother adventurers, after which every man shall tramp home again, and
make the best excuse he can to his master. His worship the alguazil’s idea
seemed equally bright and judicious. We returned rank and file to the tavern,
some in the pious hope of finding a plausible excuse for having slept abroad,
others in a desperate indifference about being turned out of doors without a
character.
We ordered a good supper to be got ready, and sat down to table with our
physical and mental powers in full vigour. The relish was eh grees bya
thousand pleasant anecdotes. Fabricio, of all men in the world, having the
happy knack of a chairman in a company of jovial spirits, kept the table ina
roar. There escaped from him I know not how many charges of true Castilian
wit, worth more either in the schools of philosophy or the exchange of com-
merce than the drug of Attic salt. While we were in a full peal of laughter,
we were made to laugh on the other side of our mouths by an unforeseen occur-
rence. There appeared at table a man of no contemptible prowess, followed
by two other as ill-looking dogs as ever existed. After this specimen we had
three others, and reckoned up to a dozen, marching in by triplets. They were
armed with carbines, swords, and bayonets. We could not mistake their office,
and were at no loss to guess their business. At first we had a mind to be re-
fractory ; but they beset us in an instant, and kept us under, as much by their
numbers as by their weapons. Gentlemen, said the captain commandant in a
jeering strain, I have been informed by what ingenious artifice you have recovered
a ring from the custody of a lady no better than she should be. Undoubtedly,
the device was admirable, and well deserves a civic crown ; the patriotism of our
police will not be found wanting. Justice, with her lodgings to let for gentry of ©
GIL BLAS SENT TO PRISON. 55
your description, will not be deficient in her acknowledgments for so brilliant a
display of genius. The company to whom this introductory address was directed,
looked a little sheepish on the occasion. Our countenances fell; and Camilla
had her full revenge. Fabricio, however, though pale and puzzled, made an
attempt at a defence. Sir, said he, we did it in the innocence of our hearts, and
of course we shall be forgiven this not immoral fraud? What the devil, replied
the commandant in a rage, do you call this a not immoral fraud? Moral or
immoral, it may bring you to the gallows. Besides that the power of restitution
is too sacred to be assumed by the individual, you have made away with a can-
dlestick, a necklace, and a pair of drop ear-rings : and what is worse, you have
committed your rascalities in the livery of the law. Scoundrels dressing them-
selves up like the pillars of morality to undermine its very foundation! I shall
wish you much joy if you are condemned to nothing worse than mowing the
salt marsh. When he had impressed it on our convictions that the affair was
even more serious than our first fears, we threw ourselves on his mercy, and
implored him to have pity on our tender years, but his stubborn heart was relent-
less. He rejected moreover the proposal of relinquishing the necklace, ear-rings,
and candlestick ; nay, he was deaf to the rhetoric of my ring : perhaps because I
offered it before too many witnesses : in short, he was the most obdurate dog of
his kennel. He ordered my companions to be handcuffed, and sent us in a body
to the public prison. As we were on our way, one of the marshalmen acquainted
me that Camilla’s old vixen, suspecting us not to be licensed scouts of justice,
had dogged us to the tavern ; and having satisfied her doubts, in revenge informed
against us to the patrole.
We were searched in the first instance. Away went the necklace, the ear-
rings, and the candlestick. They picked my pocket of my ring, and my ruby of
the Philippine Isles ; without even sparing the few fees I had received in the
forenoon for my prescriptions : so that it was plain trade was carried on by the
‘same firm at Valladolid as at Astorga, and that all these reformers held the
same creed. While they rifled me of my trinkets and money, the lord in wait-
ing of the patrole made known our adventure to the inferior agents of legal
rapine. ‘The trespass appeared so audacious that the majority voted it capital.
A few kind souls were of opinion that we might come off for two hundred lashes
a piece, with a few years on board the galleys. Waiting his worship’s sentence,
we were locked up in a cell, where we lay upon straw, spread over our stable
like a litter for horses. ‘There might we have foddered for an age, and at last
have been turned out to grass in the galleys, if on the morrow Signor Manuel
Ordonnez had not got wind of our affair, and determined to release Fabricio ;
which he could not do without making a general gaol delivery. He was a man
of the first credit in the town : his interest was exerted for us, and partly by his
own influence, and partly by that of his friends, he obtained our enlargement
at the end of three days. But the period of delivery is always moulting time
with gaol birds ; the candlestick, the necklace, the ear-rings, my ring, and the
y, all was left behind. One could not help repeating those excellent lines of
irgil, beginning with Sic vos non vobis.
As soon as we were at liberty we returned to our masters. Doctor Sangrado
received me kindly ; My poor Gil Blas, said he, it was but this morning I was
acquainted with thy misfortune. I was just setting about an active canvass
for thee. We must derive comfort from adversity, my friend, and attach our-
selves more than ever to the practice of physic. I affirmed that to be my
intention ; and in truth I laid about me. Far from wanting employment, it
happened by a kind providence, as my master had foretold, to be a very sickly
season, The smallpox and a malignant fever took alternate possession of the ]
town and the suburbs. All the physicians in Valladolid had their share of
56 GIL BLAS.
business, and we not the least. , We saw eight or ten patients a day; sothat ,
the kettle was kept on the simmer, and the blood in the action of transpiring.
But things will happen cross; they died to a man, either by our fault or their
own. If their case was hopeless, we were not to blame; and if it was not
hopeless, they were. Three visits to a patient was the length of our tether.
About the second, we sometimes ran foul of the undertaker; or when we
had been more fortunate than usual, the patient had got no further than the
point of death. As I was but a young physician, not yet hardened to the trade
of an assassin, I grieved over the a Ode issue of my own theory and
practice. Sir, said I, one evening to Doctor Sangrado, I call heaven to wit-
ness on the spot that I have never strayed from your infallible method ; and
yet I have never saved a patient: one would think they died out of spite, and
were on the other side of the great medical question. This very day I came
across two of them, going into the country to be buried. My good lad, replied
he, my experience nearly comes to the same point. It is but seldom I have the
pleasure of curing my kind and partial friends. If I had less confidence in my
principles, I should think my prescriptions had set their faces against the work
they were intended to perform. If you will take a hint, sir, replied I, we had
better vary our system. Let us give, by way of experiment, chemical prepara-
tions to our patients; the worst they can do is to tread in the steps of our pure
dilutions and our phlebotomizing evacuations, I would willingly give it a trial,
réjoined he, if it were a matter of indifference, but I have published on the
practice of bleeding and the use of drenches: would you have me cut the
throat of my own fame as an author! Oh! you are in the right, resumed I ;
our enemies must not gain this triumph over us ; they would say that you were
out of conceit with your own systems, and would ruin your reputation for con-
sistency. Perish the people, perish rather our nobility and clergy! But let us
goon in the old path. After alJ, our brethren of the faculty, with all their ten-
derness about bleeding, have no patent for longevity any more than ourselves ;
_and we may set off their drugs against our specifics.
We went on working double tides, and did so much execution, that in less
than six weeks we made as many widows and orphans as the siege of Troy.
The plague must have got into Valladolid by the number of funerals. Day
after day came some father or other to know what was become of his son, who
was last seen.in our hands; or else a stupid fellow of an uncle, who hada
foolish hankering after a deceased nephew. With respect to the nephews and
sons, on whose uncles and fathers we had equalized our system of destruction,
they thought that least said was soonest mended. Husbands were altogether
on their good behaviour, they would not split a hair about the loss of a wife or
two. The real sufferers to whose reproaches we were exposed, were sometimes
quite savage in their grief; without being mealy-mouthed in their expressions,
they called us blockheads and assassins. I was concerned at their bad language; .
but my master, who was up to every circumstance, listened to their abuse with
the utmost indifference. Yet I might have grown as‘callous as himself to
an ane reproach, if heaven, interposing its shield between the invalids of Val-
adolid and one of their scourges, had not providentially raised up an inci-
ar to disgust me with medicine, which from the outset had been disgusted
with me.
The idle fellows about town assembled every day in our neighbourhood for
a game at tennis. Among the number was one of those professed bullies who
set up for great Dons, and are the complete cocks of the tennis-court. He was
a Biscayan, and assumed the title of Don Roderic de Mondragon. His age
might be about thirty. His size was somewhat above the common, but he
was lean and bony, Besides two sparkling little eyes rolling about in his head,
[LEAVES DR SANGRADO. 57
and throwing out defiance against all bystanders, a very broad nose came in
between a pair of red whiskers, which turned up like a hook as high as the
temples. His phraseology was so rough and uncouth that the very sound of
his voice would throw a quiet man intoanague. This tyrant over both the
rackets and the game was lord paramount in all disputes between the players ;
and there was no appeal from his decisions, but at the risk of receiving a challenge
the next day. Precisely as I have drawn Signor Don Roderic, whom the Don
in the foreground of his titles could never make a gentleman, Signor Don
Roderic was sweet upon the mistress of the tennis-court. She was a woman of
forty, in good circumstances, as charming as forty can well be, just entering on
the second year of her widowhood. I know not how he made himself agree-
able; certainly not by his exterior recommendations, but probably by that within
which passeth show. However that might be, she took a fancy to him, and
began to turn her thoughts towards the holy state of matrimony; but while
that great event was in agitation, for the punishment of her sins she was taken
with a malignant fever, amd with me fora physician. Had the disorder been
ever so slight, my practice would have made a serous job of it. At the expir-
ation of four days there was not a dry eye in the tennis-court. The mistress
joined the outward-bound colony of my patients, and her family administered to
_ her effects. Don Roderic, distracted at the loss of his mistress, or rather disap-
pointed of a good establishment, was not satisfied with fretting and fuming at
me, but swore he would run me through the body, or even frown me into a
nonentity. A good-natured neighbour apprised me of this vow, with a cau-
tion to keep at home, for fear of coming across this devil of a fellow. This
warning, though taken in good part,-was a source of anxiety and apprehen-
sion. I was eternally fancying the enraged Biscayan laying siege to the out-
works of my citadel. There was no getting a moment’s respite from alarm.
This circumstance weaned me from the practice of medicine, and I thought of
nothing but deliverance from my horrors. On went my embroidered suit once
more. Taking leave of my master, who did all he could to detain me, I got
out of town with the dawn, not heedless of that terrible Don Roderic, who
might waylay me on the road.
Cu. VI.—Lis route from Valladolid, with a description of his fellow-traveller,
I TRUDGED on at a great rate, and looked behind from time to time, to see if
that dreadful Biscayan was not following me. My imagination was so engrossed
by the fellow, that he haunted me in every tree and bush ; my heart was in my
mouth for fear at every foot-fall. But I took courage again at the distance of
about a league, and went on more gently towards Madrid, whither I proposed
directing my steps. I had no attachment to Valladolid. All my regret was at
tearing myself from Fabricio, my dear Pylades, of whom I had not so much as
taken my leave. It was no grievance to give up physic; on the contrary, I
prayed heaven to forgive me for having tampered with it. Yet I did not count
over the contents of my purse with less pleasure, because they were the wages
of murder. In this I took after those ladies who retire with a fortune to lead
pious lives, and think it hard if they may not fatten religiously on the hard
earnings of their libertine profession. I had, in rials, somewhere about the
value of five ducats, and this was the sum total of my property. With these I
designed repairing to Madrid, where I had no doubt of finding a good service.
Besides, I wished above all things to be in that magnificent city, the boasted
epitome of the world and all its wonders.
While I was recollecting what I had heard of it, and enjoying beforehand the
pleasures it affords, I heard the voice of a man coming after me, and singing
58 GIL BLAS.
till he had scraped his throat. He had a wallet on his back, a guitar suspended
from his neck, and a long sword by his side. He got on at such a rate, as
soon to overtake me. Who should it be but one of the two journeymen barbers
with whom I had been in gaol for the adventure of the ring. We knew one
another at once, though we had shifted our dresses, and were in a thousand
marvels at meeting so unexpectedly on the highway. If I testified my delight
at having such a fellow-traveller, he seemed on his side to feel an excess of
rapture at the renewal of our acquaintance. I told him why I had left Valla-
dolid, and he trusted his own secret to me in return, by stating himself to have
had a little brush with his master, on which they had taken an everlasting leave
of one another. Had it been my pleasure, continued he, to have taken up my
abode longer in Valladolid, ten shops would take me in for one that would
have turned me out ; since, vanity apart, I may safely say there is not a barber
in all Spain better qualified to shave all sorts of beards, with the grain or
against the grain, ad to curl a pair of whiskers. But I could no longer fight
against a hankering after.my native place, whence I departed full ten years
since. I wish to inhale a little of my own country air, and to learn the present
situation of my family. I shall be among them the day after to-morrow, at a
place called Olmédo, a populous village on this side of Segovia.
I resolved on accompanying this barber home, and going to Segovia for the
chance of a cast to Madrid. We began entertaining one another with indiffer-
ent subjects as we went along. The young fellow was perfectly good-humoured,
with a ready wit. After an hour’s conversation, he asked me if I was hungry.
I referred him to the first house of call for my answer. To stop dilapidations
till we get there, said he, we may renew our term by a little breakfast from my
wallet. When I am on a journey I am always my own caterer. None of
your woollen drapery, nor linen drapery, nor any of your frippery or trumpery.
I hate ostentation. My wallet contains nothing but a little exercise for my
grinders, my razors, and a wash-ball. I extolled his discretion, and agreed
with all my heart to the bargain he proposed. My appetite was keen and
sharp set for a comfortable meal ; after what he had said, I could expect no
less. We drew aside a little from the high road, and sat down upon the ,
There my little journeyman barber laid out his provisions, consisting of five or
six onions, with some scraps of bread and cheese; but the best lot in the
auction was a little leathern bottle, full, as he said, of choice, delicate wine.
Though the solids were not very relishing, the calls of hunger did not allow
either of us to be dainty ; and we emptied the bottle too, containing about two
pints of a wine one could not recommend without some remorse of conscience.
We then rose from table and set out again on the tramp in high glee. The
barber, who had heard some little snatches of my story from Fabricio, en-
treated me to furnish him with the whole from the best authority. It was im-
possible to refuse so munificent a host ; I therefore gave him the satisfaction
he required. In my turn I called on him, as an acknowledgment of my
' frankness, to communicate the leading circumstances of his terrestrial peregrin-
ations. Oh! as for my adventures, exclaimed he, they are scarcely worth re-
cording, a mere catalogue of common occurrences. Nevertheless, since we have
nothing else to do, I will run over the narrative, such as it is. At the same
time he entered on the recital nearly in the following terms.
Cu. VIL— The journeyman barber's story.
I TAKE up my tale from the origin of things. My grandfather, Ferdinand
Perez de la Fuenta, barber-general to the village of Olmédo for fifty years,
died, leaving four sons, The eldest, Nicholas, succeeded to the shop, and
THE 9OURNEYMAN BARBERS STORY. 59
lathered himself into the good graces of the customers. Bertrand, the next,
having taken a fancy to trade, set up for a mercer ; and Thomas, who was the
third, turned schoolmaster. As for the fourth, by name Pedro, feeling within
himself the high destinies of learning, he sold a dirty acre or two which fell to
his share, and went to settle at Madrid, where he hoped one day to distinguish
himself by his genius and erudition. The other three brothers would not part ;
they fixed their quarters at Olmédo, marrying peasants’ daughters, who brought
their husbands very little dowry, except an annual present of a chopping young
rustic. They had a most public-spirited emulation in child-bearing. My
mother, the barber’s wife, favoured the world with a contribution of six within
the first five years of her marriage. I was among the number. My father
initiated me betimes in the mysteries of shaving ; and when he saw me grown
up to the age of fifteen, laid this wallet across my shoulders, presented me
with a long sword, and said—Go, Diego, you are now qualified to gain your
own livelihood ; go and travel about. You want a little acquaintance with
the world to give you a polish, and improve you in your art. Off with you!
and do not return to Olmédo till you have made the tour of Spain, nor let me
hear of you till that is accomplished. Finishing with this injunction, he em-
braced me with fatherly affection, and shoved me out of doors by the shoulders.
Such were the parting benedictions of my sire. As for my mother, who had
more the touch of nature in her manners, she seemed to feel somewhat at my
departure. She dropped a few tears, and even slipped a ducat by stealth into
my hand. Thus was I sent from Olmédo into the wide world, and took the
road of Segovia. .I did not go two hundred yards without stopping to examine
my bag. I had a mind to view its contents, and to know the precise amount
of my possessions. There I found a case with two razors, which must have
travelled post over the chins of ten generations, by the evidence of their wear
and tear, with a strap to set them, anda bit of soap. In addition to this, a
coarse shirt quite new, a pair of my father’s shoes quite old, and what rejoiced
me more than all the rest, a rouleau of twenty rials in a linen bag. Behold the
sum total of my personals. You may conclude master Nicholas, the barber, to
have reckoned a good deal on my ingenuity, by his turning me adrift with so
slender a provision. Yet a ducat and twenty rials, by way of fortune, was
enough to turn the head of a young man unaccustomed to money concerns. I
fancied my stock of cash inexhaustible ; and pursued my journey in the sun-
shine of brilliant anticipation, looking from time to time at the hilt of my rapier,
while the blade was striking against the calf of my leg at every step, or tripping
up my heels.
In the evening I reached the village of Ataquinés with a very catholic
stomach, I put up at the inn; and, as if I meant to spend freely, asked, ina
lofty tone, what there was for supper. The landlord examined my pretensions
with his eye, and finding according to what cloth my coat was cut, said with
true publican’s civility—Yes, yes, my worthy master, you shall have no reason
to complain ; we will treat you like alord. With this assurance, he showed
me into a little room, whither he brought me, a quarter of an hour afterwards,
a ragout made of a great he cat, on which I feasted with as famous an appetite
as if it had been hare or rabbit. This excellent dish was washed down by so:
choice a wine, that the king had no better in his cellars. I found out, however,
that it was pricked ; but that was no hindrance to my doing it as much honour:
as the he cat. The last article in this entertainment for a lord was a bed better
adapted to drive sleep away than to invite it. Figure it to yourself about the
width of a coffin, and so short that I could not stretch my legs, though none of
the longest. Besides, there was neither mattress nor feather bed, but merely a
little straw sewed up in a sheet folded double, which was laid down clean for:
60 GIL BLAS.
every hundredth traveller, and served the other ninety-nine, one after another,
without washing. Nevertheless, in such a bed, with a stomach distended to a
surfeit by fricaseed cat, and then raked by sour wine, thanks to youth and a
ace ra ai is I slept soundly, and passed the night without being dis-
turb
On the following day when I had breakfasted, and paid the reckoning as I
had been treated, like a lord, I made but one stage to Segovia. On my arrival,
I had the good fortune to find a shop, where they took me in for my board
and lodging ; but I staid there only six months ; a journeyman barber, with
whom I got acquainted, was going to Madrid, and drew me in to set off with
him. I had no difficulty in procuring a situation on the same footing as at Se-
govia. I got into a shop of the very best custom. It is true, it was near the
church of the Holy Cross, and that the neighbourhood of the Prince’s Theatre
brought a great deal of business, My master, two stirring fellows, and myself,
could scarcely lather the chins of the people who came to be shaved. They
were of all trades and conditions ; eas, Siow rest, players and authors. One
day, two persons of the last description happened to meet. They began con-
versing about the poets and pieces in vogue, when one of them mentioned my
uncle’s name: a circumstance which drew my attention more particularly to
their discourse. Don Juan de Zavaleta, said one, will never do any good as an
author. A man of a cold genius, without a spark of fancy! he has written
himself down at a terrible rate by his last publication. And Louis Velez de
Guevara, said the other, what has he done? A fine work to bring before the
ublic ! Was there ever anything so wretched? They mentioned I know not
sin many poets besides, whose names I have forgotten: I only recollect that
they said no good of them. As for my uncle, they made a more honourable
mention of him, agreeing that he was a personage of merit. Yes, said one, Don
Pédro de la Fuenta is an excellent author ; there is a sly humour in his compo-
sitions, blended with solid sense, which communicates an attic poignancy to
their general effect. I am not surprised at his popularity both in court and city,
nor at the pensions settled on him by the great. For many years past, said the
other, he has enjoyed a very large income. He lives at the Duke de Medina ~
Celi’s table, and has an apartment in his house, so that heis at no expense: he
must be very well in the world.
I lost not a syllable of what these poets were saying about my uncle. We
had learnt in the family, that he made a noise in Madrid by his works ; some tra-
vellers, passing through Olmédo, had told us so ; butas he took no notice of us, ~
and seemed to have weaned himself from all natural ties, we on our side lived
in a state of perfect indifference about him. Yet nature will prevail: as soon
as I had heard that he was in a fair way, and had learned where he lived, I was
tempted to go and call upon him. One thing staggered mea little ; the literati
had styled him Don Pédro. This don was an awkward circumstance: I had
my doubts whether he might not be some other poet of the name, and not my
uncle. Yet that apprehension did not damp my ardour. I thought he might
have been ennobled for his wit, and determined to pay him a visit. For this
purpose, with my master’s leave, I tricked myself out one morning as well as I
could, and sallied from our shop, a little proud of being nephew to a man who
had gained so high a character by his genius. Barbers are not the host diffi-
dent people in the world. I began to conceiveno mean opinion of myself ; and
riding the high horse with all the arrogance of greatness, inquired my way to
the Duke de Medina Celi’s palace. I rang at the gate, and said, I wanted to
speak with Signor Don Pédro dela Fuenta. The porter pointed with his finger
to a narrow staircase at the fag end of the court, and answered—Go up there,
then knock at the first dooron your right. I did as he directed me ; and knock-
THE YOURNEVMAN BARBERS STORY. 61
ed atadoor. It was tee by a young man, whom I asked if those were the
apartments of Signor Don Pédro de la Fuenta. Yes, answered he, but you
cannot speak to him at present. I should be very glad, said I, just to say, How
are you? I bring him news of his family. An you brought him news of the pope,
_ replied he, I could not introduce you just now. He is writing, and while his
wits are at work, he must not be disturbed. He will not be able to receive
company till noon ; take a turn, and come back about that time.
I departed, and walked about town all the morning, incessantly meditating on
the reception my uncle would give me. I think, said I within myself, he will
be overjoyed to see me. I measured his feelings by my own, and prepared my-
self for a very affecting discovery. Ireturned punctually to the appointed hour.
You are just in time, said the servant : my master was going out. Wait here
a moment: I will announce you. With these words, he left me in the anti-
chamber. He returned almost immediately, and showed me into his master’s
room. ‘The face struck me all at once as a family likeness. "To be sure he was
the very image of my uncle Thomas ; they might have been taken for twins.
I bowed down to the ground, and introduced myself as the son of Master
Nicholas de la Fuenta, the barber of Olmédo. I likewise informed him, that I
had been working at my father’s trade in Madrid, for these three weeks, as a
journeyman, and intended making the tour of Spain to complete my education.
While I was speaking, my uncle was evidently in a brown study. He seemed
to doubt whether he should disown me at once, or get rid of me with some little
sacrifice to decency. The latter course he adopted. Affecting the affable: Well,
my good kinsman, how are your father and your uncles? Do they get on in
the world? I began thereupon by laying before him the family knack at propa-
gation. All the children, male and female, called over by their names, with
their godfathers and godmothers included in the list! He took no extravagant
interest in the particulars of my tale ; but leading to his own purposes, Diego,
replied he, I am quite of your mind. You should go from place to place, and
seea variety of practice. I would not have you tarry longer at Madrid: it isa
very dangerous residence for youth ; you may get into bad habits, my sweet
fellow. Other towns will suit you better ; the state of society in the provinces
is more patriarchal and philosophical. Determine on emigration ; and when
your departure is fixed, come and take your leave. I will contribute a pistole
to the tourof Spain. ‘With this kind assurance, he handed me out of the room,
and sent me packing.
I had not worldly wisdom enough to find out that he wanted to get quit of me.
I went back to our shop, and gave my master an account of the visit I had paid,
He looked no deeper than myself into Signor Don Pédro’s motives, and ob-
served: I cannot help differing from your worthy uncle, so far from advising
you to travel the provinces, the real thing would be, in my opinion, to give you
a comfortable settlement in this city. He is hand in glove with the first people ;
it is an easy matter for him to establish you in a great family ; and that is a for-
tune at once. Struck with this lucky discovery, which seemed to settle the point
without difficulty, I called on my uncle again two days afterwards, and made a:
modest proposal to him for a situation about some leading character at court.
But the hint was not taken kindly. A proud man, living at free quarters among
the great, and dining with them ina family party, did not exactly wish that, while
he was sitting at my lord’s table, his nephew should be a guest in the servants’
hall. Little Diego might bring a scandal on Signor Don Pédro. He had no
hesitation, therefore, in fairly turning me out of doors, and that with a flea in my
ear. What, you little rascal, said he in a fit of extravagance, do you mean to
relinquish your calling? Begone, I consign you to the reptile whose pernicious
counsels will be your ruin. Take your leave of these premises, and never set
62 GIL BLAS.
your foot on them again, or you shall have the reception you deserve! I was
absolutely stunned at this language, and still more at the peremptory tone my
uncle assumed. With tears in my eyes I withdrew, quite overcome by his se-
verity. Yet, as 1 had always been lively and confident in my temper, I soon
wiped away my tears. My grief was even turned into resentment, and I deter-
mined to take no further notice of this unnatural relative, whose kind offices
I had hitherto been contented to want.
My attention was henceforth directed to the cultivation of my professional
talent ; I was quite a plodding fellow at mytrade. I scraped away all day ; and
in the evening, by way of relief to my scraping, I twanged the guitar. My
master on that instrument was an old Senor Escudero whom I shaved. He
taught me music in return ; and he was an adept. To be sure he had formerly
been a chorister in a cathedral. His name was Marcos de Obregon. He was
a man of the world, with good natural parts and acquired knowledge, which
jointly induced him to fix on me as an adopted son. He was engaged as an
attendant ona physician’s lady, resident within thirty yards of our house. I
went to him in the evening, when shop was shut, and we two, sitting on
the threshold of the door, made up a little concert not displeasing to the neigh-
bourhood. It was not that our voices were very fine ; but in thrumming on the
catgut, we made a pretty regular accompaniment to our duet, and filled up the
harmony sufficiently for the gratification of our hearers. Our music was par-
ticularly agreeable to Donna Mergelina, the physician’s wife ; she came into the
passage to hear us, and sometimes encored us in her favourite airs. Her hus-
band did not interfere with her amusement, ‘Though a Spaniard and in years,
he was not possessed with jealousy ; besides, his profession took up all his time ;
and as he came home in the evening, worn out with his numerous visits, he went
to bed at an early hour, without troubling himself about his wife or our concerts.
Possibly, if he thought about them at all, he might consider them as little likely
to produce dangerous consequences. He had an additional security in his wife.
Mergelina was young and handsome with a witness ; but of so fierce a modesty,
that she started at the very shadow ofa man. How could he take umbrage at
an amusement of so harmless and decorous a nature? He gave us leave to sing
our hearts out.
One evening, as I came to the physician’s door, intending to take my usual
recreation, I found the old squire waiting forme. He took me by the hand:
saying that he wished to take a little walk with me before we struck up our
little concert. At the same time he drew me aside into a by-street, where, find-
ing an opportunity of opening his mind: Diego, my good lad, said he with a
melancholy air, I want to give you a hint in private. I much fear, my good
and amiable youth, that we shall both have reason to repent of beguiling our
evenings with little musical parties at my master’s door. Rely on my sincere
friendship : I do not grudge your lessons in singing and on the guitar ; but if I
could have foreseen the storm now brewing, in the name of charity! I would
have selected some other spot to communicate my instructions. This address
alarmed me. I entreated the gentle squire to be more explicit, and to tell me
what we had to fear ; for I was no Hector, and the tour of Spain was not yet
finished. I will relate to you, replied he, what it concerns you to know, that
you may take proper measure of our present danger. :
hen I got into the service of the physician, about a year ago, he said one
morning, after having introduced me to his wife: There, Marcos, you see your
mistress ; that is the lady you are to accompany in all her peregrinations. I was
smitten with Donna Mergelina: she was lovely in the extreme, a model for an
artist, and her principal attraction was the pleasantness of her deportment.
Honoured sir, replied I to the physician, it is too great a happiness to be in the
THE FOURNEYMAN BARBERS STORY. 63
train of so charming a lady. My answer was taken amiss by Mergelina, who
said rather crustily, A pleasant gentleman this! He is perfectly free and easy.
Believe me! His fine speeches may go a begging for me. ‘These words,
dropped from such lovely lips, seemed rather inconsistent ; the manners and
ideas of bumpkins and dairy-maids coupled with all the graces of the most
lovely woman in the world! As for her husband, he was used to her ways ;
and, hugging himself on the unrivalled character of his rib, Marcos, said he,
my wife is a miracle of chastity. Then, observing her put on her veil, and
make herself ready to go to mass, he told me to attend on her at church, We
were no sooner in the street than we met, and it was no wonder, blades who,
struck with Donna Mergelina’s genteel carriage, told her a thousand flattering
tales as they passed by. She was not backward in her answers ; but silly and
ill-timed, beyond what you can conceive. They were all in amaze, and could
not imagine how a woman should take it amiss to be complimented. Why
really! madam, said I to her at first, you had better be silent, or shut your
ears to their addresses, than reply with asperity. No, no, replied she: I will
teach these coxcombs that Iam not a woman to put up with impertinence.
In short, her absurdity went so far, that I could not help telling her my mind,
at the hazard of her displeasure. I gave her to understand, yet with the great-
est possible caution, that she was unjust to nature, whose handiwork she
marred by her preposterous ferocity; that a woman of mild and polished man-
ners might inspire love without the aid of beauty; whereas the loveliest of the
sex, divested of female softness, was in danger of becoming the public scorn.
To this ratiocination, I added collateral arguments, always directed to the -
amendment of her manners. After having moralized to no purpose, I was
afraid my freedom might exasperate my mistress, and draw upon me some |
taunting repartee. Nevertheless she did not mutiny against my advice; but
silently rendered it of no avail, and thus we went on from day to day.
I was weary of pointing out her errors to no purpose, and gave her up to
the ferocious temperament of her nature. Yet, could you think it? the savage
humour of that proud woman is entirely changed within these two months. She
has a kind word for all the world, and manners the most accommodating. It
is no longer the same Mergelina who gave such homely answers to the compli-
ments of her swains: she is become assailable by flattery ; loves to be told she
is handsome, that a man cannot look at her without paying for it: her ears itch
for fine speeches, and she is become a very woman. Such a change is almost
inconceivable: and the best of the joke is, that you are the worker of this
unparalleled miracle. Yes, my dear Diego, it is you who have transformed
Donna Mergelina; you have softened down the tigress into a domestic animal ;
in a word, you have made her feel. I have observed it more than once; and
never trust my knowledge of the sex, if she is not desperately in love with
you. Such, my dear boy, is the melancholy news I have to communicate, the
awkward predicament in which we stand.
Ido not see, said I in my turn to the old man, that there is anything so
melancholy in this accident, or any peculiar awkwardness in being the object
of a pretty woman’s partiality. Ah! Diego, replied he, you argue like a
young man: you only see the bait, without guarding against the hook : plea-
sure is your lure; while my thoughts are directed to the unpleasant circum-
stances attending it. Murder will out. If you go on singing at our door, you
will provoke Mergelina’s passion; and she probably, losing all command over
herself, will betray her weakness to her husband, Doctor Oloroso. That
wretched husband, so complying now that he thinks there is no ground for
jealousy, will run wild, take signal vengeance upon her, and perhaps play some
dog’s trick or other to you and me. Well, then! rejoined I, your reasons
64 GIL BLAS.
shall be conclusive with me, and your sage counsels my rule. Lay down the
line of conduct Iam to adopt for the prevention of any left-handed catastrophe.
We will have no more concerts, was his peremptory decree. Do not show
yourself any more to my mistress : when the sight of you does not inflame her,
she will recover her composure. Stay within doors: I will call in upon you,
and we will torture the guitar with impunity. With all my heart, said I, and
I will never set my foot again in your premises. In good truth, I was
determined to serenade no longer before the physician’s door, but henceforth
to keep within the precincts of my shop, since my attractions as a man were so
formidable,
In the mean time good Squire Marcos, with all his prudence, experienced in
the course of a few days that the plan he had devised to quench Donna Merge-
lina’s flame produced a directly opposite effect. The lady on the second night
not hearing me sing, asked why we had discontinued our concerts, and the
reason of my absence. He told her I was so busy as not to have a moment to
spare for relaxation. She seemed satisfied with that excuse, and for three days
longer bore the disappointment of all her hopes like a heroine ; but at the end
of that period, my martyr to the tender passion lost all pees and said to
her conductor—You are playing false with me, Marcos ; Diego has not discon-
tinued his visits without a cause. This mystery must be unravelled. Speak, I
command you ; conceal nothing from me. Madam, answered he, making use
of another subterfuge, since the truth must be told, it has often happened to
him to find the cloth taken away at home after the concert; he cannot run the
risk any longer of going to bed without his supper. What, without his supper !
exclaimed she in an agony, why did not you tell me so sooner? Go to bed
without his supper! Oh! the poor little sufferer! Go to him this instant, and
let him come again this evening; he shall not go home starving any more,
there shall always be a luncheon for him.
What do I hear? said the squire, affecting astonishment at this language ;
oh heaven, what a reverse! Is this you, madam, and are these your sentiments?
Well-a-day! Since when are you so compassionate and tender-hearted ? Since,
replied she significantly, since you have lived in this house, or rather since you
disapproved my disdainful manners, and have laboured to soften the acrimony
of my temper. But, alas! added she, in a melting mood, I have gone from one
extreme to the other. Proud and insensible as 1 was, Iam become too sus-
ceptible, too tender. Iam enamoured of your young friend Diego, and I can-
not help myself; his absence, far from allaying my ardour, only adds fuel to
the fire. Is it possible, resumed the old man, that a young fellow with neither
face nor person should have inspired so strong a passion? I could make allow-
ance for your feelings, if they had been set afloat by some nobleman of distin-
guished merit..... Ah! Marcos, interrupted Mergelina, I am not like the
rest of my sex; or rather, spite of your long experience, your penetration is but
shallow if you fancy merit to have much share in our choice. Judging by my-
self, we all leap before we look. Love is a mental derangement, forcibly draw-
ing all our views and attachments into one vortex; a species of hydrophobia.
Have done then with your hints that Diego is not worthy of my tenderness ;
that he has it is enough, to invest him with a thousand perfections too etherial
for your gross sight, and perhaps too unsubstantial for any but a lover’s percep-
tion, In vain you disparage his features or his stature; in my eyes he was
created to undo, and encircled by the hand of nature with the glories of the
opening day. Nay, more, there is a thrilling sweetness in his voice; his touch
on the guitar has the taste of an amateur, and the execution of a professor.
But, madam, subjoined Marcos, do you consider who Diego is? The mean-
ness of his station...,. My own is very little better, interrupted she
THE 90URNEYMAN BARBERS STORY. 65
again; though were I of noble birth, it would make no difference in my sensa-
tions.
The result of that conference was that the squire, concluding he should make _
no impression on the mind of his mistress, gave over struggling with her ob-
stinacy, as a skilful pilot runs before the storm, though it carries him out to sea
from his intended port. He did more: to satisfy his patroness he paid me a
visit, took me aside, and after having related what had passed between them
—You see, Diego, said he,that we cannot dispense with the performance of our
concerts at Mergelina’s door. Absolutely, my friend, that lady must see you
again; otherwise she may commit some act of desperation fatal to her good
name. Iwas not inexorable, but answered Marcos that I would attend with
my guitar early in the evening; and dispatched him to his mistress with the
happy tidings. He executed his office, and the impassioned dame was out of
her wits with joy, in the delicious prospect of hearing and seeing me in a few
hours.
A most disagreeable circumstance, however, was very near disappointing her
in that hope. I could not leave home before night, and for my sins, it was dark
as pitch. I went groping along the street, and had got, may be, half way, when
down from a window came upon my head the contents of a perfuming pan,
which did not tickle my olfactory nerves very pleasantly. I may say that not a
whiff was wasted, so exactly had the giver taken measure of the receiver. In
this situation I was at a loss on what to resolve: to go back by the way I came,
what an exhibition before my comrades! It was surrendering myself to all
their nasty witticisms. ‘Then again, go to Mergelina in such a glorious trim,
that hurt my feelings on the other side. I determined, at length, to get on to-
wards the physician’s. The old usher was waiting for me at the door. He
said that Doctor Oloroso was gone to bed, and we might amuse ourselves as we
liked. I answered that the first thing was to purify my drapery, at the same
time relating my misfortune. He seemed to feel for me, and showed me into a
hall where his mistress was sitting. As soon as the lady got wind of my ad-
venture, and had confirmed the testimony of her nose by the evidence of her eyes,
she mourned over me as grievously as if my miseries had been mortal; then,
apostrophising the absent cause of my foul array, she uttered a thousand impre-
cations. Well, but madam! said Marcos, do moderate this ecstacy of grief;
consider that such casualties will happen, there is no occasion to take on so
bitterly. Why, exclaimed she with vehemence, why would you debar me from
the privilege of weeping over the injuries of this tender lamb, this dove without
gall, who does not so much as murmur at the affront he has sustained? Alas!
why am I not a man at this moment to avenge him!
She uttered numberless soothing expressions besides, to mark distinctly the
excess of her devotion, and her actions corresponded with her words; for while
Marcos was employed in wiping me down with a towel, she ran into her cham-
ber and brought out a box furnished with every variety of perfumes. She burned
sweet-smelling drugs, and perfumed my clothes with them, after which she
drenched me in a deluge of essences. The fumigation and aspersion ended,
this bountiful lady went herself and fetched from the kitchen bread, wine, and
some good slices of roast mutton, set by on purpose for me. She forced me to
eat, and taking a pleasure in waiting on me, sometimes carved for me, and some-
times filled my glass, in spite of all that Marcos and myself could do to antici-
pate her condescension. When I had done supper, the gentlemen of the orchestra
struck the key note, and tuned their sweet voices to the pitch of their guitars.
We played and sung to the heart’s delight of Mergelina. To be sure we took
care to carol none but amorous ditties; and as we sung, I every now and then
leered at her with such a roguish meaning, as to throw oil upon the fire, for the
66 GIL BLAS.
game began to be interesting. The concert, though the acts were long, was not
tedious. As for the lady, to whom hours seemed to fly like seconds, she could
have been content to exhaust the night in listening, if the old squire, with whom
the seconds seemed to lag like hours, had not hinted how late it was. She
gave him the trouble of enforcing his moral on the lapse of time by at least
ten repetitions. But she was in the hands of a man not to be turned aside from
his purpose, he let her have no rest till I was gone. Sensible and provident as
he was, seeing his mistress given up to a mad passion, he dreaded lest our har-
mony should be resolved by some discord. His fears were ominous : the phy-
sician, whether his mind misgave him of foul play, or the spirit of jealousy,
hitherto on its good behaviour, had a mind to harass him gratuitously, bethought
himself of quarrelling with our concerts. _Hedid more, he put a broad negative
upon them; and, without assigning his reasons for acting in this violent way,
declared that he would suffer no more strangers to come about his premises.
Marcos acquainted me with this mortifying declaration, particularly levelled
against my rising hopes. I had begun bobbing at this dainty cherry, and did
not like to lose my game. Nevertheless, to act the part of a faithful reporter
and true historian, I must own my impatience did not affect my health or spirits.
Not so with Mergelina, her feelings were more alive than ever. My dear Mar-
cos, said she to her usher, it is only from you that I look for succour. Con-
trive, I beseech you, that I may see Diego in private. What do you require?
asked the old man with a reproachful accent. I have been but too indulgent
to you. Iam not a person to crown your wanton wishes at the expense of my
master’s honour, your good fame, and my own eternal infamy; the infamy of a
man whose past life has been one continued series of faithful service and ex-
emplary conduct. I had rather leave the family than stay in it on such scandal-
ous conditions. Alas! Marcos, interrupted the lady, frightened out of her wits at
these last words, you wring my heart by talking in this manner. Obdurate man!
Can you bear the thought of sacrificing her who lays all her present agony to
your account? Give me back my former pride, and that savage soul you have
taken from me. Why am I no longer happy in my very imperfections? I might
now have been at peace, but your rash counsels have robbed me of the repose I
then enjoyed. You, the corrector of my manners, have tampered with my
morals, .... But why do I rave, unhappy wretch as Iam? why upbraid you
thus wrongfully? No, my guardian angel, you are not the fatal source of my
miseries ; my evil destiny had decreed these tortures to await me. Lay not to
heart, I conjure you on my knees, these transports of a disordered imagination.
Oh mercy ! my passion drives me mad, have compassion on my weakness; you
are my sole support and stay: if then my life is not indifferent to you, deny me
not your aid.
At these words her tears flowed in fresh torrents, and stifled her lugubrious
accents, She took out her handkerchief, and throwing it over her face, fell
into a chair, like a person overcome by her affliction. Old Marcos, who was
perhaps one of the most tractable go-betweens in the world, could no longer
steel his heart against so touching a spectacle. Pierced to the quick, he even
mingled his tears with those of his mistress, and spoke to her in a softened tone
—Ah! madam, why are you thus bewitching! I cannot hold out against your
sorrowful complaints, my virtue yields under the pressure of my pity. I pro-
mise you all the relief in my power. No longer do I marvel at the oblivious
influence of passion over duty, since mere sympathy can mislead my footsteps
from its thorny paths. Thus did this pander, whose past life had been one con-
tinued series of faithful service and exemplary conduct, sell himself to the devil
to feed Mergelina’s illicit flame. One morning he came and talked over the
whole business with me, saying at his departure, that he had a scheme in his
THE FOURNEYMAN BARBERS STORY. 67
head, to bring about a private interview between us. At the thought my hopes
were all re-kindled, but they glimmered tremblingly in the socket at a piece of
news I heard two hours afterwards. A journeyman apothecary in the neighbour-
hood, one of our customers, came in to be shaved. While I was making ready
to trim his bushy honours, he said—Master Diego, do you know anything about
your friend, the old usher, Marcos de Obregon? Is he not going to leave Doc-
tor Oloroso? I said, No. But he is though, replied he; he will get his dis-
mission this very day. His master and mine were talking about it just now in
my hearing, and their conversation was to the following effect :—Signor Apun-
tador, said the physician, I have a favour to beg of you. I am not easy about
an old usher of mine, and should like to place my wife under the eye of a trusty,
strict, and vigilant duenna. I understand you, interrupted my master. You
want Dame Melancia, my wife’s directress, and indeed mine for the last six
weeks, since I have been a widower. Though she would be very useful to me
in housewifery, I give her up to you, from a paramount regard to your honour, °
You may rely upon her for the security of your brow ; she is the phcenix of the
duenna tribe—a spring-gun and a man-trap set in the purlieus of female chastity.
During twelve whole years that she was about my wife, whose youth and
beauty, you know, were not without their attractions, I never saw the least
semblance of manhood within my doors. No, no! by all the powers! That
game was not so easily played. And yet I must let you know that the departed
saint, heaven rest her soul! had in the outset a great hankering after the delights
of the flesh ; but Dame Melancia cast her in a new mould, and regenerated her
to virtue and self-denial. In short, such a guardian of the weaker sex is a
treasure, and you will never have done thanking me for my precious gift.
Hereupon the doctor expressed his rapture at the issue of the conference ; and
they agreed, Signor Apuntador and he, on the duenna’s succeeding the old
usher on this very day.
This news, which I thought probable, and turned out to be true, disturbed
the pleasurable ideas, just beginning to flow afresh, and renovate my soul.
After dinner, Marcos completed the convulsion, by confirming the young drug-
pounder’s story: My dear Diego, said the good squire, I am heartily glad that
Doctor Oloroso has turned me off; it spares me a world of trouble. Besides
that it hurt my feelings to be invested with the office of a spy, endless must
have been the shifts and subterfuges to bring you and Mergelina together in
private. We should have been rarely gravelled ! Thanks to heaven, I am set
free from all such perplexing cares, to say nothing of their attendant danger.
On your part, my dear boy, you ought to be comforted for the loss of a few
soft moments, which must have been dogged at the heels by a thousand fears
and vexations. I relished Marcos’ sermon well enough, because my hopes
were at an end, the game was lost. I was not, it must be confessed, among
the number of those stubborn lovers who bear up against every impediment ; -
but though I had been so, Dame Melancia would have made me let go my hold.
The established character of that duenna would have daunted the adventurous
spirit of a knight-errant. Yet, in whatever colours this phoenix of the duenna
tribe might have been painted, I had reason to know, two or three days after-
wards, that the physician’s lady had unset the man-trap and spring-gun, and
given a stop to this watch-dog of lubricity. As I was going out to shave one of
our neighbours, a civil old gentlewoman stopped me in the street, and asked if
my name was Diego de la Fuenta. I said, Yes. That being the case, replied
she, I have a little business with you. Place yourself this evening at Donna
Mergelina’s door ; and when you are there, give a signal, and you shall be let
in. Vastly well! said I, what must the signal be? I can take off a cat to the
life : suppose I was to mew a certain number of times? The very thing, replied .
68 GIL BLAS.
this Iris of intrigue ; I will carry back your answer. Your most obedient, Ke
nor Diego! Heaven protect the sweet youth! Ah! you area pretty one! By
St Agnés, I wish I was but sweet fifteen, I would not go to market for other
folks! With this hint, the old procuress waddled out of sight.
You may be sure this message put me in no small flutter. Where now was
the morality of Marcos? I waited for night with impatience, and, calculating
the time of Dr Oloroso’s going to bed, took my station at his door. There I
set up my caterwauling, till you might hear me ever so far off, to the eternal
honour of the master who instructed me in that imitative art. A moment after
Mergelina opened the door softly with her own dear hands, and shut it again
with me on the inside. We went into the hall, where our last concert had
been performed. It was dimly lighted by a small lamp, which twinkled in the
chimney. We sat down side ts side, and began our tender parley, each of us
overcome by our emotions, but with this difference ; that hers were all inspired
by pleasure, while mine were somewhat tainted by fear. In vain did the
divinity of my adorations assure me that we had nothing to fear from her hus-
band. I felt the access of an ague, which unmanned my vigour. Madam, said
I, how have you eluded the vigilance of your directress? After what I have
heard of Dame Melancia, I could not have conceived it possible for you to
contrive the means of sending me any intelligence, much less of seeing me
in private. Donna Mergelina smiled at this remark, and answered: You
will no longer be surprised at our being together to-night, when I tell you
what has passed between my duenna and me. As soon as she came to her
lace, my husband paid her a thousand compliments, and said to me: Merge-
ina, I consign you to the guidance of this wary lady, herself an abstract of all
the virtues : in this glass you may look without a blush, and array yourself in
habits of wisdom. This extraordinary personage has for these twelve years
been a light to the ways of an apothecary’s wife of my acquaintance ; but how
has she been a light to them? ... . why, as ways never were enlightened
before: she turned a very slippery piece of mortal flesh into a downright
nun.
This panegyric, not belied by the austere mien of Dame Melancia, cost me a
flood of tears, and reduced me to despair. I fancied the din of eternal lectures
from morning till night, and daily rebukes too harsh to be endured. In short,
I laid my account in a life of wretchedness, beyond the patience of a woman.
Keeping no measures in the expectation of such cruel sufferings, I said bluntly
to the duenna, the moment I was alone with her: You mean, no doubt, to
exercise your tyranny most wantonly on my poor person; but I cannot bear
much severity, I warn you before-hand. I give you, moreover, fair notice, that I
shall be as savage as you can be. My heart cherishes a passion, which not all
your remonstrances shall tear from it : so you may act accordingly. Watch me
as closely as you please ; it is hard if I cannot outwit such an old thing as you.
At these taunting words, I thought this saracen in petticoats was going to give
me a specimen of her discipline. But so far from it, she smoothed her brow,
relaxed her surly features, and primming up her mouth into a smile, promul-
gated this comfortable doctrine: Your temper charms me, and your frankness
calls for a return. We must have been made for one another. Ah! lovely
Mergelina, little do you fathom my character, to be deceived by the fine com-
pliments of your husband the Doctor, or by my Tartar contour! There never
was a creature more fortified against moral prejudices! My inducement for
getting into the service of jealous husbands is to lend myself to the enjoyments
of their pretty wives. Long have I trodden the stage of life in masquerade ;
and I may call myself doubly happy, in the spiritual rewards of virtue, and the
temporal indulgences of the opposite side. Between ourselves, mine is the
THE FOURNEVMAN BARBER’S STORY. 69
system of all mankind in the long run. Real virtue is a very expensive article ;
plated goods look just as well, and are within the reach of all purchasers.
Put yourself under mydirection. Wewill make Doctor Oloroso pay the piper
to our dancing, or 1am no duenna. By my troth, he shall go the way of Signor
Apuntador and all mankind. There is no reason why the forehead of a phy-
sician should be smoother than the brow of an apothecary. Poor dear Apun-
tador! What fun have we had with him, his wife and I! A charming woman,
that wife of his! <A dear little creature, open to all mankind, and prejudiced by
none! Well! she is at peace, and has not left her fellow behind her! Take my
word, short as her time was, she made the most of it. Let me see how many
rampant chaps have been brought to their bearings in that house, without the
dear deluded husband being waked out of his evening’s nap! Now, madam,
you may see me in my true light ; and assure yourself, whatever might be the
abilities of your old usher, you will not fare the worse for going further. If he
was a benefit to you, I shall be a blessing.
You may judge for yourself, Diego, continued Mergelina, how well I took it
of the duenna, that she laid herself open so frankly. I had taken her virtue to
be of the impenetrable cast. Look you now, how much women are liable to be
scandalized. But her character of plain dealing won my heart at once. I threw
my arms about her neck in a rapture, which bespoke my warm and tender
feelings at the thoughts of such a mother abbess. I gave her carte blanche of
all my private thoughts, and put in for a speedy téte-a-téte with your own dear
self She met me on my own ground. This very morning she engaged the
old woman who spoke-to you, to take the field: she is an old stager, a veteran
in the service of the apothecary’s wife. But the best of the joke in this comedy,
added she in a paroxysm of laughter, is that Melancia, on my assurance that my
husband’s habit is to pass the night without stirring, is gone to bed by his side,
and drones out my useless office at this moment. So much the worse, madam, ~
said I then to Mergelina ; your device is more plausible than profitable. Your
husband is very likely to wake, and discover the fraud. He will not discover
anything about it, replied she with no little urgency ; set your heart at rest
about that, and let not an empty fear poison the fountains of a pleasure, which
ought to drown every vulgar and earthly consideration in the arms of a young
lady who is yours for ever and ever.
The old doctor’s help-mate, finding that her assurances had little effect upon _
my courage, left no stone unturned to put me in heart again ; and she had so
many encouraging ways with her, that a very coward must have plucked up a
little. My thoughts were all with Jupiter and Alcmena; but at the very
moment that the urchin Cupid, with his train of smiles and antics, was weaving
a garland to compliment the crisis of our endeavours, we were stopped in our
career by an importunate knocking at the street door. Ina moment, away
flew love and all his covey, like game at the report of a fowling-piece. Merge-
lina popped me like an article of household furniture under the hall table, blew
out the lamp, and, by previous agreement with her governess, in the event of
so unlucky an accident, placed herself at the door of her husband’s bedchamber,
In the mean time, the knocking continued with reiterated violence, till the
whole house resounded. The physician awoke suddenly, and called Melancia,
The duenna flung herself out of bed, though the doctor, taking her for his wife,
begged of her not to disturb herself. She ran to her mistress, who, catching
hold of her in the dark, began calling Melancia! and told her to go and see
who was at the door. Madam, answered the directress, here I am at your
service, go to bed again if you please ; you shall soon know who it is. During
this parley, Mergelina having undressed, got into bed to the doctor, who had
not the least suspicion of the farce that was playing. To be sure the stage
70 GIL BLAS.
was darkened, and the actresses had very little occasion for a prompter ; one of
them was familiar with the boards, and the other wanted only a rehearsal or
two to be perfect in her part.
The duenna, in her night-gown, made her appearance soon after, with a
candle in her hand—Good doctor, said she to her master, have the goodness to
get up. Our neighbour Fernandez de Buendia, the bookseller, is in an apo-
plectic fit: you are sent for ; time presses. The physician got on his clothes
as fast as he could, and went out. His wife, in her bed-gown, came into the
hall with the duenna. They dragged me from under the table more dead than
alive. You have nothing to fear, Diego, said Mergelina, put yourself in proper
order. At the same time she told me how things were in twowords. She had
half a mind to renew our amorous intercourse ; but the directress knew better.
Madam, said she, your husband may possibly be too late to help the bookseller
to the other world, and then he will return immediately. Besides, added she,
observing me benumbed with fright, it would be all lost labour upon this poor
youth! He is not ina condition to answer your demands. You had better
send him home, and defer the debate till to-morrow evening. Donna Merge-
lina was sorry for the delay, as well knowing that a bird in hand is worth two
in the bush ; and I flatter myself she was disappointed at not putting a cuckold’s
nightcap on the doctor’s head.
As for me, less grieved at having drawn a blank in the lottery of love, than
rejoiced at getting my neck out of an halter, I returned to my master’s,
where I passed the remainder of the night in moralizing on the scene I had left.
For some time, I was in doubt whether to keep my appointment on the follow-
ing evening. I thought it was a foolish business from first to last ; but the
devil, who is always lurking for his prey, or rather taking possession of us as
his lawful property, whispered in my ear that I should be a great fool to pack
up my alls when the prize was falling into my hands. Mergelina too with
opening and unfathomable charms! ‘The exquisite pleasures that awaited me!
I determined to stick to my text ; and promising myself a larger share of self-
possession, took my station the next evening at the doctor’s door, between
' eleven and twelve, in a most spirit-stirring humour. The heavens were com-
pletely darkened, not a star to prate of my whereabout. I mewed twice or
thrice to give warning of my being in the street ; and, as no one answered my
signal, I was not satisfied with going over the old ground, but ran up and down
the cat’s gamut from bass to treble, and from treble to bass, just as I used to
sol-fa with a shepherd of Olmédo. I tuned my fundamental bass so musically,
that a neighbour, on his return home, taking me for one of those animals whose
mewings I counterfeited, picked up am unlucky flint lying at his feet, and threw
it at me with all his force, saying—The devil fetch that tom cat! I received
the blow on my head, and was so stunned for the moment, that I was very
near falling backwards. I found the skin was broken. This was enough in
all conscience to give me a surfeit of gallantry ; so that, my passion oozing out
with my blood, I made the best of my way homewards, where I rendered night
hideous by my howling, and knocked all the family up. My master probed my
wound, and played the true surgeon on it ; he pronounced the consequences to
be uncertain. He did all he could to make them certain ; but flesh will heal
in spite of the faculty ; and there was not a scar remaining in three weeks.
During all this time, I heard not a word from Mergelina. ‘The probability is
that Dame Melancia, to wean her impure thoughts from me, engaged her in
some better sport. However, I did not concern myself about the matter ; but
left Madrid to continue my tour of Spain, as soon as I found myself perfectly
recovered, |
CONVERSATION WITH A STROLLING PLAYER. 70
Cu. VIIl.—T7he meeting of Gil Blas and his companion with a man soaking
crusts of bread at a spring, and the particulars of their conversation.
S1GNoR Diego de la Fuenta related some other adventures which had since
happened to him ; but they were so little worthy of preservation, that I shall
pass them by in silence. Yet there was no getting rid of the recital, which was
tedious enough: it lasted as far as Ponte de Duero. We halted in that town
the remainder of the day. Our commons at the inn consisted of a vegetable
soup and a roast hare, whose genus and species we took especial pains to
verify. At daybreak on the following morning we resumed our journey, after
having replenished our flask with some very tolerable wine, and our wallet with
some pieces of bread, and half the hare we had left at supper.
When we had gone about two leagues we waxed hungry ; and, espying at
about two hundred yards from the high road some spreading trees, which threw
an agreeable shade over the plain, we made up to the spot, and rested on our
arms. There we met with a man from seven to eight and twenty, who was
dipping crusts of bread into a spring. He had a long sword lying by him on
the grass, with a soldier’s knapsack, of which he had eased his shoulders. We
thought his air and person better than his attire. We accosted him with
civility ; and he returned our salutation. He then offered us his crusts, and
asked with a smile if we would take potluck with him. We answered in the
affirmative, provided le had no objection to our clubbing our own breakfast, by
way of making the meal more substantial. He agreed to it with the utmost
readiness, and we immediately produced our provisions ; which were not un-
acceptable to the stranger. What is all this, gentlemen, exclaimed he in a
transport of joy, here is ammunition for an army! By your forecast, you must
be commissaries or quartermasters. I do not travel with so much contrivance,
for my part; but depend a good deal on the chances of the road. At the
same time, though appearances may be against me, I can say, without vanity,
that I sometimes make a very brilliant figure in the world. "Would you believe
that princely honours are commonly bestowed on me, and that I have guards
in attendance? I comprehend you, said Diego; you mean to tell us, you are
a player. You guess right, replied the other; I have been an actor for these
fifteen years at least. From my very infancy, I was sent on the boards in
children’s parts. To deal freely, rejoined the barber, shaking his head, I do
not believe a word of it. I know the players ; those gentry do not travel on
foot, like you, nor do they mess with St Anthony. I doubt whether you are
anything better than a candle-snuffer. You may, quoth the son of Thespis,
think of me as you please ; but my parts, for all that, are in the first line; I
play the lovers. If that be the case, said my companion, I wish you much joy,
and am delighted that Signor Gil Blas and myself have the honour of break-
fasting with so eminent a character.
We then began to pick up our crumbs, and to gnaw the precious relics of
the hare, bestowing such hearty smacks upon the bottle, as to empty it very
shortly. We were all three so deeply engaged in the great affair of eating,
that we said very little till we had finished, when we resumed our conversation.
I wonder, said the barber to the player, that you should be so much out at
elbows. For a theatrical hero, you have but a needy exterior! I beg pardon
if I speak rather freely. Rather freely! exclaimed the actor; ah! by my
troth, you are not yet acquainted with Melchior Zapata. Heaven be praised,
I have no mind to see things in a wrong light. You do me a pleasure by
speaking so confidently: for I love to unbosom myself without reserve. I
honestly own I am not rich. Here, pursued he, showing us his doublet lined
with playbills, this is the common stuff which serves me for linings ; and if you
"2 GIL BLAS.
are curious to see my wardrobe, you shall not be disappointed. At the saine
time he took out of his knapsack a dress, laced with tarnished frippery, a
shabby head-dress for an hero, with an old plume of feathers ; silk stockings
full of holes, and red morocco shoes a great deal the worse for wear. You see,
said he again, that I am very little better than a beggar. That is astonishing,
replied Diego: then you have neither wife nor daughter? I have a very
handsome young wife, rejoined Zapata, and yet I might just as well be without
her. Look with awe on the lowering aspect of my horoscope. I married a
personable actress, in the hope that she would not let me die of hunger ; and,
to my cost, she is cursed with incorruptible chastity. Who the devil would
not have been taken in as well as myself? There was but one virtuous princess
in a whole strolling company, and she, plague take her! fell into my hands.
It was throwing with bad luck most andoabtedly, said the barber. But then,
why did not you look out for an actress in the regular theatre at Madrid? You
would have been sure of your mark. You are perfectly in the right, replied
the stroller ; but the mischief is, we underlings dare not raise our thoughts to
those illustrious heroines. It is as much as an actor of the prince’s company
can venture on ; nay, some of them are obliged to match with citizens’ daughters.
Happily for our fraternity, citizens’ daughters now-a-days contract theatrical
notions ; and you may often meet with characters among them, to the full as
eccentric as any bona roba of the green-room,
Well! but have you never thought, said my fellow-traveller, of getting an
engagement in that company? Is it necessary to be a Roscius for that Spins ?
That is very well of you! replied Melchior, you are a wag, with your Roscius !
There are twenty performers. Ask the town what it thinks of them, and you
will hear a pretty character of their acting. More than half of them deserve to
carry a porter’s knot. Yet forall that, it is no easy matter to get upon the
boards. Bribery or interest must make up for the defect of talent. I ought to
know what I say since my début at Madrid, where I was hissed and cat-called
as if the devil had got among the grimalkins, though I ought to have been re-
ceived with thunders of applause; for I whined, ranted, and offered all sorts
of violence to nature’s modesty : nay, I went so far as to clench my fist at the
heroine of the piece; in a word, I adopted the conceptions of all the great
erformers ; and yet that same audience condemned by bell, book, and candle
in me, what was thought to be the first style of playing in them. Such is the
force of prejudice! So that, being no favourite with the pit, and not having
wherewithal to insinuate myself into the good graces of the manager, I am onmy
return to Zamora. ‘There we shall all huddle together again, my wife and my fel-
low-comedians, who are making but little of the business. I wish we may not be
obliged to beg our way out of town; a catastrophe of too frequent occurrence !
At these words, up rose the stage-struck hero, slung across him his knapsack
and his sword, and made his exit with due theatric pomp : Farewell, gentlemen ;
may all the gods shower all their bounties on your heads! And you, answered
Diego with corresponding emphasis, may you find your wife at Zamora, softened
down in her relentless virtue, and in comfortable keeping. No sooner had
Signor Zapata turned upon his heel, than he began gesticulating and spouting
as he went along. The barber and myself immediately began hissing, to re-
mind him of his first appearance at Madrid. The goose grated harsh upon his
tympanum ; he took it for a repetition of signals from his old friends. But
looking behind him, and seeing that we were diverting ourselves at his expense,
far from taking offence at this merry conceit of ours, he joined with good
humour in the joke, and went his way laughing as hard as he could. On our
ei we returned the compliment in kind, After this, we got again into the
igh road, and pursued our journey. '
DIEGOS FAMILY. 73
+o
Cu. IX. — The meeting of Diego with his family; their circumstances in life ;
great rejoicings on the occasion; the parting scene between him and Gil Blas,
WE stopped for the night at a little village between Moyados and Valpuesta ;
I have forgotten the name: and the next morning, about eleven, we reached the
plain of Olmédo. Signor Gil Blas, said my companion, behold my native
place. So natural ave these local attachments, that I can hardly contain my-
self at the sight of it. Signor Diego, answered I, a man of so patriotic a soul
as you profess to be, might, methinks, have been a little more florid in his
descriptions. Olmédo looks like a city at this distance, and you called it a
village ; it cannot be anything less than a corporate town. I beg its township’s
pardon, replied the barber; but you are to know that after Madrid, Toledo,
Saragossa, and all the other large cities I have passed through in my tour of
Spain, these little ones are mere villages to me. As we got further on thie
plain, there appeared to be a great concourse of people about Olmédo : so that,
when we were near enough to distinguish objects, we were in no want of ,food
for speculation.
There were three tents pitched at some distance from each other; and hard
by, a bevy of cooks and scullions preparing an entertainment. Here a party
was laying covers on long tables set out under the tents; there a detachment
was crowning the pitchers of Tellus with the gifts of Bacchus. The right
wing was making the pots boil, the left was turning the spits and basting the
meat. But what caught my attention more than all the rest, was a temporary
stage of respectable dimensions. It was furnished with pasteboard scenes,
painted in a tawdry style, and the proscenium was decorated with Greek and
Latin mottos. No sooner did the barber spy out these inscriptions, than he
said to me—All these Greek words smell strongly of my uncle Thomas’s lamp.
I would lay a wager he has a hand in them, for between ourselves, he is a man
of parts and learning. He knows all the classics by heart. If he would keep
them to himself it would be very well, but he is always quoting them in com-
pany, and that people do not like. But then to be sure he has a right, because
this uncle of mine has translated ever so many of the Latin poets and hard
Greek authors with his own hand and pen. He has got all antiquity at his
fingers’ ends, as you may know by his ingenious and profound criticisms. If
it had not been for him, we might never have learned that the Athenian school-
boys cried when they were flogged; we owe that fact in the history of educa-
tion to his fundamental knowledge of the subject. uh
After my fellow-traveller and myself had looked about us, we had a mind to
inquire what these preparations were for. Going about on the hunt, Diego
recognized in the manager Signor Thomas de la Fuenta, to whom we made
up with great eagerness. The schoolmaster did not recollect the young barber
at first, such a difference had ten years made. But when convinced of his
being his own flesh and blood, he gave him a cordial embrace, and said with
much appearance of kindness—Ah! here you are, Diego, my dear nephew,
here you are, restored after your wanderings to your native land. You come
to revisit your household gods, your Penates, and heaven delivers you back
safe and sound into the bosom of your family. Ohhappy day, happy in all the
roportions of arithmetic! A day worthy to be marked with a white stone and
inserted among the Fasti! We have annals in abundance for you, my friend ;
your uncle Pedro, the poetaster, has fallen a sacrifice at the shrine of Pluto: to
speak to the comprehension of the vulgar, he has been dead these three months,
hat miser, in his lifetime, was afraid of wanting necessaries—A rgenti pallebat
amore. Though the great were heaping wealth upon his head, his annual expendi-
ture did not amount to ten pistoles, He had but one miserable attendant, and him
‘
44 GIL BLAS.
he starved. This crazy fellow, more wrong-headed than the Grecian Aristippus,
who ordered his slaves to leave all their costly baggage in the heart of Lybia,
as an incumbrance on their march, heaped up all the gold and silver he could
scrape together. And to what end? for those very heirs whom he refused to
acknowledge. He died worth thirty thousand ducats, shared between your father,
your uncle Bertrand, and myself. We shall be able to do very well for our
children. My brother Nicholas has already married off your sister Theresa to
the son of a magistrate in this place—Connubio junxit stabili propriamque dica-
vit. These very hymeneals, greeted auspiciously by all the nuptial powers, have
we been celebrating for these two days with all this pomp and luxury. These
tents in the plain are of our pitching. Pedro’s three heirs have each a booth of his
own, and we defray the expenses of the day alternately. I wish you had come
sooner, you might have seen the whole progress of our festivities. The day
before yesterday, the wedding-day, your father gave his treat. It was a superb
entertainment, succeeded by running at the ring. Your uncle, the mercer,
regaled us yesterday with a féte champétre, and paid the piper handsomely.
There were ten of the best grown boys, and ten young girls, dressed out in
pastoral weeds; all the frippery in his shop was brought out to prank them
up. This assemblage of Ganymedes and Houris ran through all the mazes of
the dance, and warbled forth a thousand tender and spirit-stirring lays. And
yet, though nothing was ever more genteel, the effect was not thought striking ;
but that must be owing to the bad taste of the spectators, the simplicity of pas-
toral is lost upon the present age.
To-day, the wheels are greased by your humble servant, and I mean to pre-
sent the burgesses of Olmédo with a pageant of my own invention—Fiis coro-
nabit opus. Ihave got a stage erected, on which, God willing, shall be repre-
sented by my scholars a piece of my own composing, entitled and called—7he
Amusements of Muley Bugentuf, King of Morocco. It will be played to per-
fection, for my pupils declaim like the players of Madrid. They are lads of
family at Penafiel and Segovia, boarders with me. They know how to touch
the passions ! To be sure they have rehearsed under my tuition ; their emphasis
_ will seem as if struck in the mint of their master—zt fa dicam. With respect
\ to the piece I shall not say a word about it, you shall be taken by surprise. I
shall simply state that it must produce a deep impression on the audience. It
is one of those tragic subjects which harrow up the soul, by images of death
presented to the senses in all their fearful forms. Iam of Aristotle’s mind,
| terror is a principal engine. Oh! if I had written for the stage, I would have
introduced none but bloody tyrants, and death-dispensing heroes. Not all the
perfumes of Arabia should have sweetened this blood-polluted hand, I would
have been up to my elbows in gore. There would have been tragedy with a
vengeance; principal characters! ay, guards and attendants, should all have
been sprawling together. I would have butchered every man of them, and the
prompter into the bargain. In a word, I refine upon Aristotle, and border on
the horrible, that is my taste. ‘These plays to tear a cat in, are the only things
for popularity; the actors live merrily on their own dying speeches, and the
z
authors roll in luxury on the devastation of mankind.
Just as this harangue was over, we saw a great crowd of both sexes coming
out of town into the plain. Who should it be but the new-married couple,
attended by their families and friends, with ten or twelve musicians in the van,
producing a most obstreperous din of harmony. We went up to them, and
Diego introduced himself. Peals of congratulation were immediately rung
through the assembly, and every one was eager to shake him by the hand.
Hie had enough upon his shoulders to receive all their fraternal embraces.
Relations and strangers all were for having a pull at him. At length his father
PERFORMANCE OF SIGNOR THOMAS’S PLAY. 75
said—You are welcome, Diego. You find your kinsmen living upon the fat of
the land, my friend. I shall say no more at present, a nod is as good as a
wink. Meanwhile the company went forward upon the plain, took their sta-
tions under the tents, and sat down to-table. - I kept close to my companion,
and we both dined with the happy couple, who appeared to be suitably matched.
The meal was not soon over, for the schoolmaster had the vanity to give three
courses, for the purpose of cutting out his brothers, who had not been so mag-
nificent in their hospitalities.
After the banquet, all the guests expressed their longing to see Signor
Thomas’s play, not doubting but the performance of so extraordinary a genius
would deserve all their ears. We came in front of the stage; the musicians
had taken possession of the orchestra, for the overture and act-tunes. While
every one was waiting in profound silence for the rising of the curtain, the
actors appeared on the boards; and the author, with the piece in his hand, sat
down at the wing, in the prompter’s place. Well might he call it a tragedy,
for in the first act the King of Morocco, by way of diversion, shot an hundred
Moorish slaves with arrows ; in the second he beheaded thirty Portuguese officers,
taken prisoners by one of his captains: and in the third and last, this monarch,
surfeited with long-indulged libertinism, set fire with his own hands to the
seraglio where his wives were confined, and reduced it to ashes with its inha-
bitants. The Moorish slaves, as well as the Portuguese officers, were puppets
on a very curious construction; and the palace, built of pasteboard, looked
very naturally in flames by means of an artificial firework. This conflagration,
accompanied by a thousand piercing cries, issuing from the ruins, concluded the
piece, and the curtain dropped upon this amiable entertainment. The whole
plain resounded with the applause of this fine tragedy; which spoke for the
good taste of the poet, and proved that he knew where to look out for a
subject.
I did not suppose there was anything more to be seen after Zhe Amusements
of Muley Bugentuf, but I was mistaken. Kettle-drums and trumpets announced
a new exhibition—the distribution of prizes—for Thomas de la Fuenta, to give
additional solemnity to his olympics, had made all his boys, as well day-
scholars as boarders, write exercises; and on this occasion he was to give to
those who had succeeded best, books bought at Segovia out of his own pocket.
All at once were brought upon the stage two long forms out of the school, with
a press full of old worm-eaten books in fine new bindings. At this signal all
the actors returned upon the stage, and took their places round Signor Thomas,
who looked as big as the head of a college. He had a sheet of paper in his
hand, with the names of the successful candidates. This he gave to the
King of Morocco, who began calling over the list with an authoritative voice.
Each scholar, answering to his name, went humbly to receive a book from the
hands of the bum-jerker ; after this he was crowned with laurel, and seated on
one of the two benches to be exposed to the gaze of the admiring company.
Yet, desirous as the schoolmaster might be to send the spectators away in good
humour, he brought his eggs toa bad market; for, having distributed almost
all the prizé$ to the boarders, according to the usual etiquette of pedagogues,
that those who pay most must necessarily be the cleverest fellows, the mammas of
certain day-scholars caught fire at this instance of partiality, and fell foul of the
disciplinarian thereupon: so that the festival, hitherto so much to the glory of
the donor, seemed likely to have ended to the same tune as the carousal of the
Lapithze,
76 GIL BLAS.
BOOK THE THIRD
Cu. I.—TZhe arrival of Gil Blas at Madrid. His first place there.
I MADE some stay with the young barber. At my departure, I met with a
traveller of Segovia passing through Olmédo, He was returning with four
mules from a trading expedition to Valladolid, and took me by way of back car-
riage. We got acquainted on the road, and he took such a fancy to me that
nothing would serve him but I must be his guest at Segovia. He gave me free
quarters for two days, and when he found me determined to leave him for Ma-
drid under convoy of a muleteer, he troubled me with a letter, begging me to
deliver it in person according to the superscription, without hinting that it was
a letter of recommendation, I was punctual in calling on Signor Matheo’Me-
lendez. He was a woollen-draper, living at the gate of the Sun, at the corner
of Trunkmaker street. No sooner had he broken the cover and read the con-
tents, than he said with an air of complacency—Signor Gil Blas, my corre-
spondent, Pedro Palacio, has written to meso pressingly in your favour, that I
cannot do otherwise than offer you a bed at my house ; moreover, he desires me
to find you a good master, and I undertake the commission with pleasure. I
have no doubt of suiting you to a hair.
I embraced the offer of Melendez the more gratefully because my funds were
getting much below par ; but I was not long a burden on his hospitality. At
the week’s end, he told me that he had mentioned my name to a gentleman of
his acquaintance, who wanted a valet-de-chambre, and, according to present
appearances, the place would not be long vacant. In fact, this gentleman hap-
pened to make his appearance in the very nick—Sir, said Melesdes ushing
me forward, you see before you the young man as by former advice. eis a
pupil of honour and integrity. I can answer for him as if he was one of my own
family. The gentleman looked at me with attention, said that my face was in
my favour, and hired me at once. He has nothing to do but to follow me,
added he, I will put him into the routine of his employment. At these words
he wished the tradesman good morning, and took me into the High-street,
directly over against St Philip’s church. We went intoa very handsome house,
of which he occupied one wing ; then going up five or six steps, he took me into
a room secured by strong double doors, with an iron grate between. From this
ae we went into another, with a bed and other furniture, rather neat than
gaudy.
If my new master had examined me closely, I had all my wits about me as
well as he. He wasa man on the wrong side of fifty, with a saturnine and serious
air. His temper seemed to be even, and I thought no harm of him. He asked
me several questions about my family ; and liking my answers—Gil Blas, said
he, I take you to be a very sensible lad, and am well pleased to have you inmy
service. On your part, you shall have no reason tocomplain. I will give you
six rials a day board wages, besides vails. Then I require no great attendance,
for I keep no table, but always dine out. You will only have to brush my
clothes, and be your own master for the rest of the day. Only take care to be
at home early in the evening, and to be in waiting at the door, that is your chief
duty. After this lecture, he took six rials out of his purse, and gave them to
me as earnest. We then went out, he locked the doors after him, and taking
care of the keys—My friend, said he, you need not go with me, follow the de-
vices of your own heart ; but on my return this evening, let me find you on that
GIL BLAS’S FIRST PLACE AT MADRID. 77
staircase. With this injunction he left me to dispose of myself as seemed best
in my own eyes.
In good sooth, Gil Blas, said I in a soliloquy, you have got a jewel of a mas-
ter. What! fall in with an employer to give you six rials a day for wiping off
the dust from his clothes, and putting his room to rights in the morning, with
the liberty of walking about and taking your pleasure like a schoolboy in the
holidays ! By my troth! it is a place of ten thousand. No wonder I was ina
hurry to get to Madrid, it was doubtless some mysterious boding.of good fortune
prepared for me. I spent the day in the streets, diverting myself with gaping
at novelties—a busy occupation. In the evening, after supping at an ordinary
not far from our house, I squatted myself down in the corner pointed out by my
master. He came three quarters of an hour after me, and seemed pleased with
my punctuality. Very well, said he, this is right, I like attentive servants. At
these words, he opened the doors of his apartment, and closed them upon us
again as soon as we had got in. As we had no candle, he took his tinder-box
and struck alight. I then helped him to undress. When he was in bed, I
lighted, by his order, a lamp in his chimney, and carried the wax-light into the
antechamber, where I lay in a press-bed without curtains. He got up the next
day between nine and ten o’clock ; I brushed his clothes. He paid me my six
rials, and sent me packing till the evening. My mysterious master went out
himself too, not without great caution in fastening the doors, and we parted for
the remainder of the day.
Such was our course of life, very agreeable to me. ‘The best of the joke was,
that I did not know my master’s name. Melendez did not know it himself.
The gentleman came to his shop now and then, and bought a piece of cloth.
My neighbours were as much at a loss as myself ; they all assured me that my
master was a perfect stranger, though he had lived two years in the ward. He.
visited no soul in the neighbourhood, and some of them, a little given to scan-
dal, concluded him to be no better than he should be. Suspicions got to be
more rife ; he was suspected of being a spy of Portugal, and it was thought but ,
fair play to give a hint for my own good. ‘This intimation troubled me.
Thought I to myself, should this turn out to be a fact, I stand a chance for see-
ing the inside of a prison at Madrid. My innocence will be no security ; my
past ill-usage makes me look on justice with antipathy. Twice have I experi-
enced that if the innocent are not condemned in a lump with the guilty, at least
the rights of hospitality are too little regarded in their persons to make it plea-
sant to pass a summer in the purlieus of the law.
I consulted Melendez in so delicate a conjuncture. He was at a loss how to
advise me, ‘Though he could not bring himself to believe that my master was
a spy, he had no reason to be confident on the ‘other side of the question. I
determined to watch my employer, and to leave him if he turned out to be an
enemy of the state ; but then prudence and personal comfort required me to be
certain of my fact. I began, therefore, to pry into his actions ; and to sound him,
Sir, said I one evening while he was undressing, I do not know how one ought
to live so as to be secure from reflections. The world is very scurrilous! We,
among others, have neighbours not worth a curse. Sad dogs! You have no
notion how they talk of us. Do they indeed, Gil Blas? quoth he. Be it so!
but what can they say of us, my friend? Ah! truly, replied I, evil tongues
never want a whet. Virtue herself furnishes weapons for her own martyrdom.
Our neighbours say that we are dangerous people, that we ought to be looked
after by government; in a word, you are taken for a spy of Portugal. In
throwing out this hint, I looked hard at my master, just as Alexander squinted
at his physician, and pursed up all my penetration to remark upon the effect of
my intelligence. ‘There seemed to be a hitch in the muscles of my mysterious
78 | GIL BLAS.
lord, altogether in unison with the suspicions of the neighbourhood ; and he tell
into a brown study, which bore no very auspicious interpretation, However,
he put a better face on the matter, and said with sufficient composure : Gil Blas,
leave our neighbours to discourse as they please, but let not our repose depend
on their judgments. Never mind what they think of us, provided our own con-
sciences do not wince.
Hereupon he went to bed, and I did the like, without knowing what course
to take. The next day, just as we were on the point of going out in the morn-
ing, we heard a violent knocking at the outer door on the staircase. My master
opened the inner, and looked through the grate. A well-dressed man said to
him : » Please your honour, I am an alguazil, come to inform you that Mr Cor-
regidor wishes to speak a word with you.» What does he want? answered my
pattern of secrecy. That is more than I know, sir, replied the alguazil ; but
you have only to go and wait on him ; you will soon beinformed. Iam his most
obedient, quoth my master ; I have no business with him. At the tail of this
speech, he banged the inner door; then, after walking up and down a little
while, like one who pondered on the discourse of the alguazil, he put my six
rials into my hand, and said: Gil Blas, you may go out, my friend ; for my part,
I shall stay at home a little longer, but have no occasion for you. He made
an impression on my mind, by these words, that he was afraid of being taken
up, and was therefore obliged to remain in his apartments. I left him there ;
and, to see how far my suspicions were founded, hid myself ina place whence I
could see if he went out. I should have had patience to have staid there all the
morning, if he had not saved me the trouble. But an hour after, I saw him
walk the street with an ease and confidence which dumb-founded my sagacity.
Yet far from yielding to these appearances, I mistrusted them ; for my verdict
went to condemnation. I considered his easy carriage as put on ; and his stay-
ing at home as a finesse to secure his gold and jewels, when probably he was
going to consult his safety by speedy flight. I had no idea of seeing him again,
and doubted whether I should attend at his door in the evening ; so persuaded
was I, that the day would see him on the outside of the city, as his only refuge
from impending danger. Yet I kept my appointment ; when, to my extreme
surprise, my master returned as usual. He went to bed without betraying the
least uneasiness, and got up the next morning with the same composure.
Just as he had finished dressing, another knock at the door! My master
looked through the grate. His friend the alguazil was there again, and he asked
him what he wanted. Open the door, answered the alguazil ; here is Mr Cor-
regidor. At this dreadful name, my blood froze in my veins. I hada devilish
loathing of those gentry since I had passed through their hands, and could have
wished myself at that moment an hundred leagues from Madrid. As for my
employer, less startled than myself, he opened the door, and received the magis-
trate respectfully. You see, said the corregidor, that I do not break in upon
you with a whole posse : my maxim is to do business in a quiet way. In spite
of the ugly reports circulated about you in the city, I think you deserve some
little attention. What is your name, and business at Madrid? Sir, answered
my master, Iam from New Castile, and my title is Don Bernard de Castil
Blazo. With respect to my way of life, I lounge about, frequent public places,
and take my daily pleasure in a select circle of polite company. Of course you
havea handsome fortune! replied the judge. No, sir, interrupted my Mecenas,
I have neither annuities, nor lands, nor houses. How do you live then? re-
joined the corregidor. I will show you, replied Don Bernard. At the same
» time he lifted up a part of the hangings, before a door I had not observed,
opened that and one beyond, then took the magistrate into a closet containing
a large chest chuck full of gold, :
MEETS WITH CAPTAIN ROLANDO. 79
Sir, said he again, you know that the Spaniards are proverbially indolent ;
yet, whatever may be their general dislike to labour, I may compliment myself
on bettering the example. I have a stock of laziness, which disqualifies me for
all exertion. If I had a mind to puff my vices into virtues, I might call this
sloth of mine a philosophical indifference, the work of a mind weaned from all
that worldlings court with so much ardour; but I will frankly own myself con-
stitutionally lazy, and so lazy, that rather than work for my subsistence, I would
lay myself down and starve. ‘Therefore, to lead a life befitting my fancy, not
to have the trouble of looking after my affairs, and above all to do without a
steward, I have converted all my patrimony, consisting of several considerable
estates, into ready money. In this chest there are fifty thousand ducats; more
than enough for the remainder of my days, should I live to be an hundred! For
I do not spend a thousand a year, and am already more than fifty years old. I
have no fears, therefore, for futurity, since I am not addicted, heaven be praised,
to any one of the three things which usually ruin men. I care little for the
pleasures of the table; I only play for my amusement; and I have given up
women. There is no chance of my being reckoned, in my old age, among those
libidinous grey-beards to whom jilts sell their favours by troy weight.
You are a happy man! said the corregidor. They are in the wrong to sus-
pect you of being a spy : that office is quite out of character for a man like you.
Take your own course, Don Bernard : continue to live as you like. Far from
disturbing your peace, I declare myself your protector; 1 request your friend-
ship, and pledge my own. Ah! sir, exclaimed my master, thrilled with these
kind expressions, I accept with equal joy and gratitude your precious offer. In
giving me your friendship you augment my wealth, and carry my happiness to
its height. After this conversation, which the alguazil and myself heard from
the closet door, the corregidor took his leave of Don Bernard, who could not
do enough to express his sense of the obligation. On my part, mimicking my
master in doing the honours of the house, I overburdened the alguazil with
civilities. I made him a thousand low bows, though I felt for him in my sleeve
the contempt and hatred which every honest man naturally entertains for an
alguazil.
Cu. Il.—TZ he astonishment of Gil Blas at meeting Captain Rolando in Madrid,
and that robber’s curious narrative.
Don Bernard de Castil Blazo, having attended the corregidor to the street,
returned in a hurry to fasten his strong box, and all the doors which secured it.
We then went out, both of us well satisfied, he at having acquired a friend in
power, and myself at finding my six rials a day secured tome, ‘The desire of
relating this adventure to Melendez made me bend my steps towards his house;
but, near my journey’s end, whom should I meet but Captain Rolando! My
surprise was extreme, and I could not help quaking at the sight of him. He
recollected me at once, accosted me gravely, and, still keeping up his tone of
superiority, ordered me to follow him. I tremblingly obeyed, saying inwardly :
Alas! he means, doubtless, to make me pay my debts! Whither will he lead
'me? There may, perhaps, be some subterraneous retreat in this city. Plague
take it! If I thought so, I would soon show him I have not got the gout. I
walked, therefore, behind him carefully looking out where he might stop, with
the pious design of putting my best leg foremost, if there was anything in the
shape of a trap-door.
Rolando soon dispersed my alarms. He went into a well-frequented
tavern; I followed him. He called for the best wine, and ordered dinner. While
it was getting ready, we went into a private room, where the captain addressed
ye) GIZ BLAS.
me as follows: You may well be astonished, Gil Blas, to renew your acquaint-
ance with your old commander; and you will be still more so, when you have
heard my tale. The day I left you in the cave, and went with my troop to
Mansilla, for the purpose of selling the mules and horses we had taken the
evening before, we met the son of the corregidor of Leon, attended by four
men on horseback well armed, following his carriage. Two of his people we
made to bite the dust, and the other two ran away. .On this the coachman,
alarmed for his master, cried out to us in a tone of supplication—Alas ! my dear -
gentlemen, in God’s name, do not kill the only son of his worship the corregidor
of Leon. These words were far from softening my comrades; on the contrary,
their fury knew no bounds. Good folks, said one of them, let not the son of a —
mortal enemy to men like us escape our vengeance. How many ornaments of
our profession has his father cut off in their prime! Let us repay his cruelty
with interest, and sacrifice ‘this victim to their offended ghosts. The whole
troop applauded the fineness of this feeling, and my lieutenant himself was pre-
paring to act as high priest at this unhallowed altar, when I interdicted the rites,
Stop, said I; why shed blood without occasion? Let us rest contented with
the youth’s purse. As he makes no resistance, it would be against the laws of
war to cut his throat. Besides, he is not answerable for his father’s misdeeds ;
nay, his father only does his duty in condemning us to death, as we do ours in
rifling travellers.
Thus did I plead for the corregidor’s son, and my intercession was not un-
availing. We only took every farthing of his money, and carried off with us the
horses of the two men whom we had slain. These we sold with the rest at
Mansilla, ‘Thence we returned to the cavern, where we arrived the following
morning a little before daybreak. We were not a little surprised to find the
trap open, and still more so, when we found Leonarda handcuffed in the kitchen.
She unravelled the mystery in two words. We wondered how you could have
overreached us; no one could have thought you capable of serving us such a
trick, and we forgave the effect for the merit of the invention. As soon as we
had released our kitchen wench, I gave orders for a good luncheon. In the
mean time we went to look after our horses in the stable, where the old negro,
who had been left to himself for four-and-twenty hours, was at the last gasp. .
We did all we could for his relief, but he was too far gone; indeed so much re-
duced, that, in spite of our endeavours, we left the poor devil on the threshold
of another world. It was very sad; but it did not spoil our appetites, and, after
an abundant breakfast, we retired to our chambers, and slept away the whole -
day. On our awaking, Leonarda apprized us that Domingo had paid the debt
of nature. We carried him to the charnel-house where you may recollect to
have lodged, and there performed his obsequies, just as if he had been one of
our own order.
Five or six days afterwards, it fell out that one morning, on a sally, we
encountered three companies of the Holy Brotherhood, on the outskirts of the
wood. They seemed waiting to attack us. We perceived but one troop at
first, These we despised, though superior in number to our party, and
- rushed forward to the onset. But while we were at loggerheads with the first,
the two others in ambuscade came thundering down upon us; so that our
valour was of nouse. There was no withstanding such a host of enemies,
Our lieutenant and two of our gang gave up the ghost on this occasion. As
for the two others and myself, we were so closely pressed and hemmed in, as
to be taken prisoners: and, while two detachments convoyed us to Leon, the
third went to destroy our retreat. How it was discovered, I will briefly tell
you. A peasant of Luceno, crossing the forest on his way home, by chance
espied the trap-door of our subterrancous residence, which a certain young run-
CAPTAIN ROLANDOS NARRATIVE. 81
away had not shut down after him, for it was precisely the day when you took
yourself off with the Jady. He had a violent suspicion of its being our abode,
without having the courage to go in. It was enough to mark the adjacent
parts, by lightly peeling with his knife bark from the nearest trees, and so
on, from distance to distance, till he was quite out of the wood. He then
betook himself to Leon, with this grand discovery for the corregidor, who
was so much the better pleased, as his son had been robbed by our gang.’
This magistrate collected together three companies to lay hold of us, and the
peasant showed them the way.
My arrival in the town of Leon was as good as that of a wild beast to the
inhabitants. Even though I had been a Portuguese general made prisoner
of war, the people could not have been more anxious to see me, There
he goes, was the cry; that is he, the famous captain, the terror of these parts.
It would serve him right to tear him piecemeal with pincers, and make his com-
rades join in the chorus. To the corregidor, was the universal cry; and his .
worship began insulting me. So, so! said he, scoundrel as you are, the
powers of justice, worn to a thread with your past irregularities, hand over the
task of punishment to me as their delegate. Sir, answered I, great as my
crimes may have been, at least the death of your only son is not to be laid at .
my door. His life was saved by me; you owe me some acknowledgment on
that score. Oh! wretch, exclaimed he, there are no measures to be kept with
people of your description. And though it were my wish to save you, my
sacred office would not allow me to indulge my feelings. Having spoken to
this effect, he committed us toa dungeon, where my companions had no timeto ,
lament their hard fate. They got out of confinement, at the end of three days,
to expatiate with tragic energy at the place of execution. For my part, I took
up my quarters in limbo for three complete weeks. My punishment seemingly
was deferred only to render it more terrible; and I was looking out for some
refinement on the ordinary course of criminal justice, when the corregidor, .
having summoned me before him, said: Give ear to your sentence. You are
free. Had it not been for you, my only son would have been assassinated on
the highway. As a father, my gratitude was due for this service; but not
being competent to acquit you in my capacity of a magistrate, I have written ©
up to court in your favour ; have solicited your pardon, and have obtained it.
Go, then, whithersoever it may seem good to you. But take my advice ; profit '
by this lucky escape. Look to your paths, and give up the trade of a high-
- wayman for good and all.
I was deeply impressed by this advice, and took my departure for Madrid, in
the firm determination of mending my ways, and living quietly in that city. There
I found my father and mother dead, and what they left behind them in the hands
of an old kinsman, who administered duly and truly, as all trustees of course
do. I saved three thousand ducats out of the fire; scarcely a quarter of what
I was entitled to. But where was the remedy? There was no standing to
the quirks and evasions of the law. Just to be doing something, I have pur-
chased an alguazil’s place. My colleagues would have set their faces against
my admission, for the honour of the cloth, had they known my history. Luckily
they did not, or at least affected not to know it, which was just as good as the
reality ; for, in’ that illustrious body, it is the bounden duty and interest of every
member to weara mask. The pot cannot call the kettle hard names, thank
heaven. The devil would have no great catch in the best of us. And yet, my
friend, I could willingly unbosom myself to you without disguise. My present
occupation is much against the grain; it requires too circumspect and too ~
mysterious a conduct; there is nothing to be done but by underhand dealings,
gravity, and cunning. Oh! for my first trade! The new one is safer, to be
82 5% GIL BLAS ee
sure; but there is more fun in the other and liberty is my motto. | I feel
disposed to get rid of my office, and to set.out some sunshiny morning for the
mountains at the source of the Tagus. I know of a retreat thereabouts, inha-
bited by a numerous gang, composed chiefly of Catalonians ; when I have said
that, I need say no more, » If you will go along with me, we will swell the
number of those heroes. I shall be second in command. To make your
footing respectable at once, I will swear that you have fought ten times by my
side. Your valour shall mount to the very skies. » I will tell more good of
you than a commander-in-chief of a favourite officer. I will not say a word
about the run-away trick, that would render you suspected of turning nose,
therefore mum is the word. What say you to it? Are you ready to set off?
I am impatient to know your mind.
Every one to his own fancy, said I then to Rolando, you were born for bold
exploits, and your friend for a serene and quiet life. I understand you, inter- .
rupted he; the lady whom love induced you to carry off still preserves her
influence over your heart, and you doubtless lead with her that serene life of
which you are enamoured, Own the truth, master Gil Blas, she is become a
thing of your own, and you are both living on the pistoles carried off from the
subterraneous retreat. I told him he was mistaken; and, to set him right,
related the lady’s adventures and my own while we sat at dinner. When our.
meal was finished he led back to the subject of the Catalonians, and attempted
once more to engage me in his project. But finding me inflexible, he looked -
at me with a terrific frown, and said seriously—Since you are dastard enough
to prefer your servile condition to the honour of enlisting in a troop of brave fel-
lows, I turn you adrift to your own grovelling inclinations. But mark me well, a
lapse may be fatal.. Forget our meeting of to-day, and never prate about me
to any living soul; for if I catch you bandying about my name in your idle
talks, ds. 6% you know my ways, I need say no more. With these words he
called for the landlord, paid the reckoning, and we rose from table to go
away.
Cu. IIIl.—Gil Blas is dismissed by Don Bernard de Castil Blazo, and enters
into the service of a beau.
As we were coming out of the tavern, and taking our leave, my master was
passing along the street. He saw me, and I observed him look more than
once at the captain. I had no doubt but he was surprised at meeting me in
such company. It is certain that Rolando’s physiognomy and air were not
much in favour of moral qualities. He was a gigantic fellow, with a long face,
a parrot’s beak, and a very rascally contour, without being absolutely ugly.
I was not mistaken in my guess. In the evening I found Don Bernard
harping on the captain’s figure, and charmingly disposed to believe all the fine
things I could have said of him, if my tongue had not been tied. Gil Blas,
said he, who is that great shark I saw with you awhile ago? I told him it was
an alguazil, and thought to have got off with that answer, but he returned to
the charge ; and observing my confusion, from the remembrance of the threats
used by Rolando, broke off the conversation abruptly and went to bed. The
next morning, when I had performed my ordinary duties, he counted me over
six ducats instead of six rials, and said—Here, my friend, this is what I give
you for your services up to this day. Go and lack out for another place. A
servant keeping such high company is too much for me. I bethought myself of
saying, in my own defence, that I had known that alguazil, by having prescribed
for him at Valladolid, while I was practising medicine. Very good, replied my
master, the shift is ingenious enough; you might have thought of it last night,
GIL BLAS ENTERS THE SERVICE OF A BEAU. — 83
and not have looked so foolish. Sir, rejoined I, in good truth prudence kept
me silent, and gave to my reserve the aspect of guilt. Undoubtedly, resumed
he, tapping me softly on the shoulder, it was carrying prudence very far, even
to the confines of cunning. Go, lad, 1 have no further occasion for your
services. f
I went immediately to acquaint Melendez with the bad news, who told me,
for my comfort, that he would engage to procure me a better berth. Indeed,
some days after, he said—Gil Blas, my friend, you have no notion of the good
luck in store for you. You will have the most agreeable post in the world. I
am going to settle you with Don Matthias de Silva. He is a man of the first
fashion, one of those young noblemen commonly distinguished by the appella-
tion of beaus. I have the honour of his custom. He takes up goods of me,
on tick, indeed, but these great men are good pay in the long run, they often
marry rich heiresses, and then old scores are wiped off; or, should that fail, a
tradesman who understands his business puts such a price upon his articles, that
if three-fourths of his debts are bad, he is no loser. Don Matthias’s steward is
my intimate friend. Let us go and look for him. It will be for him to present
you to his master, and you may rely upon it, that for my sake he will treat
you with high consideration.
As we were on our way to Don Matthias’s house, this honest shopkeeper
said—It is fit, methinks, that you should be let into the steward’s character.
His name is Gregorio Rodriguez. Between ourselves, he is a man of low birth,
with a talent for intrigue, in which vocation he has laboured till a stewardship
in two distressed families completed their ruin, and made his fortune. I give
you notice, that his vanity is excessive; he loves to see the under-servants
creeping and crawling at his feet. It is with him they must make interest if
they have any favour to beg of their master, for should they happen to obtain
it without his interference, he has always some shift or other at hand to get the
boon revoked, or at least render it of no avail. Regulate your conduct on this
hint, Gil Blas; pay court to Signor Rodriguez in preference to your master
himself, and leave no stone unturned to get into his good graces. His friend-
ship will be of material service to you. He will pay your wages to the day;
and, if you have management enough to worm yourself into his confidence, you
may chance to pick up some of the fragments which fall from his table. There
are enough for an hungrier dog than you! Don Matthias is a young nobleman,
with no thought to throw away but on his pleasures, nor the slightest suspicion
how his own affairs are going on. What a house for a steward who knows
how to be a steward !
When we got to our journey’s end, we asked to speak with Signor Rodri
guez. We were told that we should find him in his own apartment. There h
was, sure enough, and with him a clownish sort of fellow holding a blue bag,
full of money. The steward, looking more wan and yellow than a girl in
hurry for a husband, ran up to Melendez with open arms ; the draper was no
behindhand with him, and they each hugged the other with a shew of friend-
ship, at least as much indebted to art as nature for its plausible effect. After
this, the next question was about me. Rodriguez examined me from top to toe;
saying very civilly at the same time that I was just such an one as Don Matthias
wanted, and that he would with pleasure take upon himself to present me to
that nobleman. Thereupon Melendez gave him to understand how deeply he
was interested in my behalf; he begged the steward to take me under his pro-
tection, and leaving me with him, after plenty of compliments, withdrew. . As
soon as he was gone out, Rodriguez said, I will introduce you to my master the
moment I have dispatched this honest husbandman. He called the country-
man to him forthwith, and taking his bag; Talego, said he, let us see if the five
\o
N
on
‘
84 GIL BLAS.
hundred pistoles are all right. He counted over the money himself. As the
sum was found to be exact, the countryman took a receipt and went away.
The cash was put back again into the bag. It was my turn next to be attended
to. We may now, said my new patron, go to my master’s levee. He usually
gets up about noon, it is now near one o'clock, and must be daylight in his
apartment.
Don Matthias had indeed just risen. He was still in his morning gown,
kicking his heels in a great chair, with a leg tossed over one of the elbows,
swinging backwards and forwards, and manufacturing his own snuff. His con-
versation was addressed to a footman in waiting, who officiated as a temporary
valet-de-chambre. My lord, said the steward, here isa young man whom I
take the liberty of presenting to your lordship in the place of him you dis-
charged the day before yesterday. Your draper, Melendez, has given him a
character ; he undertakes for his qualifications, and I believe you will be very
well pleased with him. That is enough, answered the young nobleman, since
he has your recommendation, I adopt him blindfold into my retinue. He is
my valet-de-chambre at once; that business is settled. Let us talk of other
matters, Rodriguez, you are come just in time, I was going to send for you.
I have a budget of bad news, my dear Rodriguez. I played with ill luck last
night, an hundred pistoles in my pocket lost, and two hundred more on credit.
You know how indispensable it is for persons of high rank to pay their debts of
honour. As for any other, it is no matter when they are paid. Punctuality is
all very well between one tradesman and another, but they cannot expect it from
one of us. These two hundred pistoles must be raised forthwith and sent to the
Countess de Pedrosa. Sir, quoth the steward, that is sooner said than done.
Where, prythee, am I to get such a sum? Threaten as I will, I never
touch a marvedi from your tenants. And yet your establishment is to be kept
up in style, and Iam wearing myself to a thread in furnishing the ways and
means. It is true that hitherto, heaven be praised, we have rubbed on, but
what witch to conjure for a wind now, I know not, the case is desperate. All
this prosing is extremely impertinent, interrupted Don Matthias; this counting-
house talk makes me hideously nervous.” So then, Rodriguez, you really thin
to undertake my reform, and metamorphose me into a plodding manager of
my own estates? A very elegant sort of pastime for a man in my station of
life ; a man of rank and fashion! Grant me patience, replied the steward ; at
the rate we are driving now, it is easily calculated how soon you will be re-
leased from all those cares. You are a very great bore, resumed the young
nobleman rather peevishly, this brutal importunity is downright murder to one’s
feelings. I hate loud music, be so good as to let me be ruined Aianissimo. I
tell you I want two hundred pistoles, and I must have them. Why, then, said
Rodriguez, we must have recourse to the old rascal who has lent you so much
already on usurious terms. Have recourse to the devil, if he will do you any
good, answered Don Matthias ; only let me have two hundred pistoles, and it
is the same thing to me how you manage to get them.
While he was uttering these words in a hasty and fretful tone, the steward
went out; and Don Antonio Centellés, a young man of quality, came in.
What is the matter, my friend? said this last to my master: your atmosphere
is overcast ; I trace passion in the lines of your countenance. Who can have
ruffled that sweet temper? I would lay a wager, it was that booby just gone
out. Yes, answered Don Matthias, he is my steward. Every time he comes
to speak to me, I am in an agony for a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes.
He rings the changes on the state of my affairs ; and tells me that I am spending
principal and interest......A beast! He will say next, that I have ruined him
into the bargain! My dear fellow, replied Don Antonio, I am exactly in the
THE USURERS INTERVIEW WITH DON MATTHIAS. 85
same situation. My man of business is just such another scarecrow as your
steward. When the sneaking scoumrel, after repeated demands, brings me
some niggardly supply, it is just as if he was lending me his own. He expos-
tulates most barbarously. Sir, says he, you are going to rack and ruin; there
is an execution out against you. I am obliged to cut him short, and beg him to
remonstrate in epitome. The worst of it is, said Don Matthias, that there is
no doing without these fellows ; they are the penance attached to our elegant
indiscretions. Just so, replied Centellés...... But listen, pursued he, bursting
into a fit of laughter ; a pleasant idea has just struck me. Nothing was ever
more farcically fancied. We may introduce a duffo caricato into our serious
opera, and relieve the knell of our departed goods and chattels with an
humorous divertisement. The plot is thus: let me try to borrow from your
steward whatever you want. You shall do the same with my man of business,
‘Then let them both preach as they please ; we shall hearken with the utmost
composure. Your steward will come and open his case to me; my man of
business will plead the poverty of the land to you. I shall hear of nothing but
your extravagance ; and you will see your own in mine as ina glass, It will
be vastly entertaining.
A thousand brilliant conceits followed this flight of genius, and put the
young patricians into high spirits, so that they kept up the ball with vivacity, if
not with wit. Their conversation was interrupted by Gregorio Rodriguez, who
brought back with him a little old man with a bald head. Don Antonio was
for moving off. Farewell, Don Matthias, said he, we shall meet again anon. I
leave you with these gentlemen; you have, doubtless, some state affairs to discuss
in council. Oh! no, no, answered my master, you had better stop; you will
not interrupt us. This warm old gentleman has the moderation to lend me
money at twenty per cent. What! at twenty per cent.! exclaimed Centellés
in a tone of astonishment. In good truth! I wish you joy on being in such
hands. I do not come off so cheaply, for my part: I pay through the nose for
every farthing I get. My loans are generally raised at double that per cent.
There is usury! said the father of the usurious tribe; unconscionable dogs!
Where do they expect to go when they die? I do not wonder there is so
strong a prejudice against money-lenders. It is the exorbitant profit which
some of them derive from their discounts, that brings reproach and ill-will upon
us all. Ifall my brethren of the blue balls were like me, we should not be
treated so scurvily; for my part, I only lend to do my duty towards my neigh-
bour, Ah! if times were as good now as in my early days, my purse should
be at your service as a friend; and even now, in the present distress of the
money-market, it goes against the grain to take a poor twenty per cent. But
one would think the money was all gone back to the mines whence it came:
there is no such thing to be had, and the scarcity compels me to depart a little
from the disinterested severity of my benevolence. How much do you want?
pursued he, addressing my master. Two hundred pistoles, answered Don
Matthias. I have four hundred here in a bag, replied the usurer; it is only to
give you half of them. At the same time he drew from underneath his cloak a
blue bag, looking just like that in which farmer Talego had left five hundred
pistoles with Rodriguez. I was not long in forming my judgment of the
matter, and saw plainly that Melendez had not bragged without reason of the
steward’s aptness in the ways of the world. The old man emptied the bag,
displayed the cash on a table, and set about counting it.. The sight set all my
master’s extravagant passions in a flame; the sum total proved very striking to
his comprehension. Signor Descomulgado, said he to the usurer, I have just
made a very sensible reflection: I am a great fool. I only borrow enough to
redeem my credit, without thinking of my empty pockets. I should be obliged
86 GIL BLAS.
to give you the trouble of coming again to-morrow. I think, therefore, it will
’ be best to spare your age and infirmities, and ease you of the four hundred at
once. My lord, answered the old man, I had destined half of this money to a
good licentiate, who lays out the income of his large preferments in those pious
and charitable uses for which they were originally given to the clergy, as stew-
ards of the poor, and guides to the young and unwary. In pursuance of this
end, it is his great delight to wean young girls from the seductions of a
wicked world, and place them in a snug well-furnished little box of his own,
where they may be obnoxious to his ghostly admonitions by day and by night.
But, since you have occasion for the whole sum, it is at your disposal. Some-
thing by way of security..... - Oh! as for security, interrupted Rodriguez,
taking a paper out of his pocket, you shall have as good as the bank.
‘Here is a note which Signor Don Matthias has only just to sign. He makes
over five hundred pistoles, due from one of his tenants, Talego, a wealthy
yeoman of Mondejar. That is enough, replied the usurer, I never split hairs,
but deal upon the square. The steward insinuated a pen between his master’s
fingers, who signed. his name at the bottom of the note, without reading it;
and whistled as he signed, for want of thought.
That business settled, the old man took his leave of my noble employer, who
shook him cordially by the hand, saying: Till I have the pleasure of seeing
you again, good master pounds, shillings, and» pence, Iam your most devoted
humble servant. Ido not know why you should all be lumped together for a
set of blood-suckers; you seem to me a necessary link in the chain of well-
ordered society. You are as good as a physician to us pecuniary invalids of
quality, and keep us alive by artificial restoratives in the last stage of a con-
sumptive purse. You are in the right, exclaimed Centellés. Usurers are a
very gentlemanly order in society, and I must not be denied the privilege of
paying my compliments to this illustrious specimen, for the sake of his twenty
per cent. With this banter, he came up and threw his arms about the old
man’s neck: and these two overgrown children, for their amusement, began
sending him backward and forward between them like a shuttlecock. After
they had tossed him about from pillar to post, they suffered him to depart with
the steward, who ought to have come in for his share of the game, and for
something a little more serious. .
When Rodriguez and his stalking-horse had left the room, Don Matthias
sent, by the lacquey in waiting, half his pistoles to the Countess de Pedrosa,
and deposited the other half in along purse worked with gold and silk, which
he usually wore in his pocket. Very well pleased to find himself in cash, he
said to Don Antonio, with an air of gaiety: What shall we do with ourselves
to-day? Let us call a council, That is talking like a statesman, answered
Centellés: I am your man: let us ponder gravely. While they were collecting
their deliberative wisdom on the course they were to pursue for the day, two
other noblemen came in; Don Alexo Segiar and Don Ferdinand de Gamboa ;
both nearly about my master’s age, that is, from eight and twenty to thirty.
These four jolly blades began with such hearty salutations, as if they had not
met for these ten years. After that, Don Ferdinand, a professed bacchanalian,
made his proposals to Don Matthias and Don Antonio: Gentlemen, said he,
where do you dine to-day? If you are not engaged, I will take you to a tavern,
where you shall quaff celestial liquor. I supped there last night, and did
-not come away till between five and six this morning. Would to heaven,
.exclaimed my master, I had done the same! I should not have lost my
money. ; » ;
. ‘ For, my part, said Centellés, I treated myself yesterday evening with a new
Amusement ; fo: variety has always its charms forme. Nothing but a change
YOUNG NOBLEMEN AND THEIR SERVANTS. 87
of pleasures can make the dull round of human life supportable. One of my
friends introduced me neck and heels to one of those gentry ycleped tax-gather-
ers, who do the government business and their own at the same time. There
was no want of magnificence, good taste, or a well-designed set out table! but
I found in the family itself an highly seasoned relish of absurdity. The farmer
of the revenues, though the most meanly extracted of the whole party, must
set up for a great man; and his wife, though hideously ugly, was a goddess in
her own estimation, and made a thousand silly speeches, the zest of which was
heightened by a Biscayan accent. Add to this, that there were four or five .
children with their tutor at table. Judge if it must not have been an amusing
family party.
As for me, gentlemen, said Don Alexo Segiar, I supped with Arsenia the
actress. We were six at table: Arsenia, Florimonde, a coquet of her acquaint-
ance, the Marquis de Zenette, Don Juan de Moncade, and your humble servant.
We passed the night in drinking and talking bawdy. What a flow of soul!
To be sure, Arsenia and Florimonde are not strong in their upper works ; but
then they have a facility in their vocation which is more than all the wit in the
world. They are the dearest madcaps, gay, romping, and rampant : they are
an hundred times better than your modest women of sense and discretion.
Cu. IV.—Gil Blas gets into company with his fellows ; they shew him a ready
road to the reputation of wit, and impose on him a singular oath.
THOSE noblemen pursued this strain of conversation, till Don Matthias, about
whose person I was fiddling all the while, was ready to go out. He then told
me to follow him ; and this bevy of fashionables set sail together for the tavern,
whither Don Ferdinand de Gamboa proposed to conduct them. I began my
march in the rear rank with three other valets ; for each of the gentlemen had
his own. I remarked with astonishment that these three servants copied their
masters, and assumed the same follies. I introduced myself as a new comer.
They returned my salute in form ; and one of them, after having taken measure
of me very accurately, said—Brother, I perceive, by your gait, that you have
never yet lived with a young nobleman. Alas! no, answered I, neither have I
been long in Madrid. So it appears, replied he, you smell strong of the coun-
try. You seem timid and embarrassed ; there is an hitch in your deportment.
But no matter, we will soon wear off all stiffness, take my word for it. Perhaps
you think better of me than I deserve, said I. No, resumed he, no ; there is
no such cub as we cannot lick into shape ; assure yourself of that.
This specimen was enough to convince me that I had hearty fellows for my
comrades, and that I could not be in better hands to initiate me into high life
below-stairs. On our arrival at the tavern, we found an entertainment ready
which Signor Don Ferdinand had been so provident as to order in the morning.
Our masters sat down to table, and we arranged ourselves behind their chairs.
The conversation was spirited and lively. My earstingledtohearthem. ‘Their
humour, their way of thinking, their mode of expression diverted me. What
fire ! what sallies of imagination ! They appeared like a new order of beings.
With the dessert, we sat before them a great choice of the best wines in Spain,
and left the room, to go to dinner in a little parlour, where our cloth was laid.
I was not long in discovering that the combatants in our lists had more to
recommend them than appeared at first sight. ‘They were not satisfied with
aping the manners of their masters, but even copied their phrases ; and these
varlets gave such a facsimile, that bating a little vulgarity, they might have
passed themselves off very well. I admired their free and easy carriage ; still
more was I charmed with their wit, but despaired of ever coming up to them in
88 GIL BLAS.
my own person. Don Ferdinand’s servant, on the score of his master treating ours,
did the honours ; and, determined to do the thing genteelly, he called the land-
lord, and said to him—Master tapster, give us ten bottles of your very best
wine ; and, as you have an happy knack of doing, make the gentlemen up-
stairs believe that they have drank them. With all my heart, answered the
landlord ; but, Master Gaspard, you know that Signor Don Ferdinand owes
me for a good many dinnersalready. If through your kind intervention I could
get some little matter on account . . . . Oh! interrupted the valet, do not be
at all uneasy about your debt: I will take it upon myself ; put it down to me.
It is true that some unmannerly creditors have preferred legal measures to a
reliance on our honour ; but we shall take the first opportunity of obtaining a
replevy, and will pay you without looking at your bill. To have my masteron
your books is like so many ingots of gold. The landlord brought us the wine,
in spite of unmannerly creditors ; and we drank to a speedy replevy. It was as
good as a comedy to see us drinking each other’s health every minute, under
our masters’ titles. Don Antonio’s servant called Don Ferdinand’s plain
Gamboa, and Don Ferdinand’s servant called Don Antonio’s Centellés : they
dubbed me Silva ; and we kept pace in drunkenness, under these borrowed
names, with the noblemen to whom they properly belonged.
Though my wit was less conspicuous than that of the other guests, they lost
no opportunity of testifying their pleasure in my acquaintance. Silva, said one
of our merriest soakers, we shall make something of you, my friend. I hi
that you have wit at will, if you did but know how to draw upon it. e fear
of talking absurdly prevents you from throwing out at all ; and yet it is only by
a bold push that a thousand people now-a-days set themselves up for good
companions. Do you wish to be bright? You have only to give the reins to
your loquacity, and to venture indiscriminately on whatever comes uppermost :
your blunders will pass for the eccentricities of genius. ‘Though you should
utter an hundred extravagancies, let but a single good joke be packed up in the
bundle, the nonsense shall be all forgotten, the witticism bandied about, and
your talent be puffed into high repute. This is the happy method our masters
have devised, and it ought to be adopted by all new candidates. Besides that
I had but too strong a wish to pass for a clever fellow, the trick they taught me
appeared so easy in the performance, that it ought not to be buried in obscurity.
I tried it at once, and the fumes of the wine contributed to my success ; that is
to say, I talked at random, and had the good luck to strike out of much ab-
surdity some flashes of merriment, very acceptable to my audience. This first
essay inspired me with confidence. I redoubled my sprightliness, to sparkle in
repartee ; and chance gave a successful issue to my endeavours.
Well done! said my fellow-servant who had addressed me in the street, do
not you begin to shake off your rustic manners? You have not been two hours
in our company, and you are quite another creature: your improvement will be
visible every day. This it is to wait on people of quality. It causes an eleva-
tion, which the mind can never attain under a plebeian roof. Doubtless, answered
I—and for that reason I shall henceforth dedicate my little talents to the nobility.
That is bravely said, roared out Don Ferdinand’s servant, half seas over, com-
moners are not entitled to possess such a fund of superior genius as exists in us.
Come, gentlemen, let us make a vow never to colleague with any such beggarly
fellows ; let us swear to that by Styx. We laughed heartily at Gaspard’s conceit :
the proposal was received with applause : and we took this mock oath with our
glasses in our hands.
Thus sat we at table till our masters were pleased to get up from it. This
was at midnight ; an outrageous instance of sobriety, in the opinion of my col-
leagues. To be sure, these noble lords left the tavern so early only to visit a
GREGORIO DE NORIEGA’S PARTY. 89
celebrated wanton, lodging in the purlieus of the court, and keeping open house
night and day for the votaries of pleasure. She was a woman from five and
thirty to forty, still in the height of her charms, entertaining in her discourse,
and so perfect a mistress in the art of pleasure, that she sold the waste and refuse
of her beauty at a higher price than the first sample of the unadulterated article.
She had always two or three other pieces of damaged goods in the house, who
contributed not a little to the great concourse of nobility resorting thither. The
afternoon was spent in play ; then supper, and the night passed in drinking and
making merry. Our masters staid till morning, and so did we, without thinking
the time long ; for, while they were toying with the mistresses, we attacked the
maids. At length, we all parted when daylight peeped in on our festivities,
and went to bed each of us at our separate homes.
My master getting up at his usual time, about noon, dressed himself. He
went out, I followed him, and we paid a visit to Don Antonio Centellés, with
whom we found one Don Alvaro de Acuna. He was an old gentleman, who
gave lectures on the science of debauchery. The rising generation, if they .
wanted to qualify themselves for fine gentlemen, put themselves under his
tuition, He moulded their ductile habits to pleasure, taught them to make a
distinguished figure in the world, and to squander their substance : he had no
qualms as to running out his own, for the deed was done. After these three
blades had exchanged the compliments of the morning, Centellés said to my
master—In good faith, Don Matthias, you could not have come at a more lucky
time. Don Alvar is come to take me with him to a dinner, given by a citizen
to the Marquis de Zenette and Don Juan de Moncade ; and you shall be of the
party. And what is the citizen’s name? said Don Matthias. Gregorio de
Noriega, said Don Alvar, and I will describe the young man in two words.
His father, a rich jeweller, is gone abroad, to attend the foreign markets, and
left his son, at his departure, in the enjoyment of a large income. Gregorio is
a blockhead, with a turn for every sort of extravagance, and an awkward hank-
ering after the reputation of wit and fashion, in despite of nature. He has
begged of me to give him a few instructions. I manage him completely ; and
can assure you, gentlemen, that I lead hima rare dance. His estate is rather
deeply dipped already. I do not doubt it, exclaimed Centellés ; I see the vul-
gar dog in an almshouse. Come, Don Matthias : let us honour the fellow with
our acquaintance, and be in at the death of him. Willingly, answered my mas-
ter, for I delight in seeing the fortune of these plebeian upstarts kicked over,
when they affect to mix among us. Nothing, for instance, ever entertained me
so much as the downfall of the toll-gatherer’s son, whom play, and the vanity of
figuring among the great, have stripped, till he has not a house over his head.
Oh! as for that, replied Don Alvar, he deserves no pity, he is as great a cox-
comb in his poverty as he was in his prosperity.
Centellés and my master accompanied Don Alvar to Gregorio de Noriega’s
party. We went there also, that is, Mogicon and myself, both in ecstasy at hav-
ing an opportunity of spunging on a citizen, and pleasing ourselves with the
thought of beingin at the death of him, At our entrance, we observed several
men employed in preparing dinner ; and there issued from the ragouts they were
taking up, a vapour which conciliated the palate through the medium of the nos-
trils. The Marquis de Zenette and Don Juan de Moncade were just come, The
founder of the feast seemed a great simpleton. He aped the man of fashion with
a most clumsy grace ; a wretched copy of admirable originals, or, more properly,
an idiot in the chair of wisdom and taste. Figure to yourself a man of this cha-
racter in the centre of five bantering fellows, all intent on making a jest of him,
and drawing him into ridiculous expenses. Gentlemen, said Don Alvar, after
the first interchange of civilities, give me leave to introduce you to Signor Gre-
90 GIL BLAS.
gorio de Noriega, a most brilliant star in the hemisphere of fashion.. He owns
a thousand amiable qualities. Do you know that he has an highly cultivated
understanding?, Choose your own subject, he is equally at home in every
branch, from the subtilty and closeness of logic, to the elementary science of the
criss-cross-row. Oh! this is really too flattering, interrupted the scot and lot
gentleman with a very uncouth laugh. I might, Signor Alvaro, put you to the
blush as you have put me; for you may truly be termed a reservoir as it were,
a common sewer of erudition. I had no intention, replied Don Alvaro, to draw
upon myself so savoury an encomium ; but truly, gentlemen, Signor Gregorio
cannot fail of establishing a name in the world. As for mé, said Don Antonio,
what is so delightful in my eyes, far above the honours of logic or the criss-cross-
row, is the tasteful selection of his company. Instead of demeaning himself to’
the level of tradesmen, he associates only with the young nobility, and sets the
expense at nought. There is an elevation of sentiment in this conduct which
enchants me: and this is what you may truly call disbursing with taste and
judgment.
These ironical speeches were only the preludes to a continual strain of banter,
Poor Gregorio was attacked on allhands. The wits shot their bolts by turns, but
they made no impression on the fool ; on the contrary, he took all they said
literally, and seemed highly pleased with his guests, as if they did him a favour
by making him their laughing-stock. In short, he served them for a butt while
they sat at table, which they did not quit during the afternoon, nor till late at
night. We, as well as our masters, drank as we liked, so that the servants’-hall
and the dining-room were in equally high order when we took our leave of the
young jeweller.
Cu. V.—Gil Blas becomes the darling of the fair sex, and makes an interesting
acquaintance.
AFTER some hours’ sleep I got up in fine spirits ; and calling the advice of Melen-
dez to mind, went, till my master was stirring, to pay my court to our steward,
whose vanity was rather flattered by this attention. He received me witha
gracious air, and inquired how I was reconciled to the habits and manners of
the young nobility. I answered, that they were strange to me as yet, but that
use and good example might work wonders in the end.
Use and good example did work wonders, and that right soon. My tem
and conduct were quite altered. From a discreet, sober lad, I got to be a live-
ly, heedless merry andrew. Don Antonio’s servant paid me a compliment on
my transformation, and told me that there wanted nothing but a tender interest
in the lovely part of the creation to shine like a new star dropped from the hea-
vens. He pointed out to me that it was an indispensable requisite in the cha-
racter of a pretty fellow, that all our set were well with some fine woman or
other ; and that he himself, to his own share, engrossed the favours of two
beauties in high life. I was of opinion that the rascal lied. Master Mogicon,
said I, you are doubtless a very dapper, lively little fellow, with a modest as-
surance ; but still I do not comprehend how women of quality, not having your
sweet person on their own private establishments, should run the risk of being
detected in an intrigue with a footman out of doors. Oh! as for that, answer-
ed he, they do not know my condition. To my master’s wardrobe, and even
to his name, am I indebted for these conquests. I will tell you howitis. I
dress myself up as a young nobleman, and assume the manners of one. I go to
public places, and tip the wink first to one woman and then to another, till I
meet with one who returns the signal. Her I follow, and find means to speak
with her. I take the name of Don Antonio Centellés, I plead for an assign-
GIL BLAS ADVENTURE OF GALLANTRY. QI
ation, the lady is squeamish about it; I am pressing, she is kind, e¢ cetera.
Thus it is, my fine fellow, that I contrive to carry on my intrigues, and I would
have you profit by the hint.
I was too ambitious of shining like a new star dropped from the heavens, to
turn a deaf ear to such counsel ; besides, there was about me no aversion to an
amour. I therefore laid a plan to disguise myself as a young nobleman, and
look out for adventures of gallantry. There was a risk in assuming my mas-
querade dress at home, lest it might be observed. I took a complete suit from
my master’s wardrobe, and made it up into a bundle, which I carried to a bar-
ber’s, where I thought I could dress and undress conveniently. There I tricked
myself out to the best advantage. The barber too lent a helping hand to my
attire. When we thought it adjusted to a nicety, I sauntered towards Saint
Jerome’s meadow, whence I felt morally certain that I should not return with-
out making an impression. But I could not even get thither, without a proof
of my own attractions.
As I was crossing a bye-street, a lady of genteel figure, elegantly dressed,
came out of a small house, and got into an hired carriage standing at the door.
I stopped short to look at her, and bowed significantly, so as to convey an in-
timation that my heart was not insensible. On her part, to show me that her
face was not less lovely than her person, she lifted up her veil for a moment.
In the mean time the coach set off, and I stood stock still in the street, not a
little stiffened at this vision. A vastly pretty woman! said I to myself, bless
us! this is just what is wanting to make me perfectly accomplished. If the two
‘ladies who share Mogicon between them are equally handsome, the scoundrel
is in luck! Ishould be delighted with her fora mistress. Ruminating on these
things, I looked by chance towards the house whence that lovely creature had
glided, and saw at a window on the ground floor an old woman beckoning me
to come in.
I flew like lightning into the house, and found, in a very neat parlour, this
venerable and wary matron, who, taking me for a marquis at least, dropped a
low curtsey, and said—I doubt not, my lord, but you must have a bad
i er of a woman who, without the slightest acquaintance, beckons you out
of the street ; but you will perhaps judge more favourably of me when you
shall know that I do not pay that compliment promiscuously. You look likea
man of fashion! You are perfectly in the right, my old girl, interrupted I,
stretching out my right leg, and throwing the weight of my body on my left
hip ; mine is, vanity apart, one of the best families in Spain. It must beso by
your looks, replied she, and I will fairly own that I delight in doing a kindness
to people of quality, that is my weak side. I watched you through my window.
You looked very earnestly at a lady who has just left me. Perhaps you may
have taken a fancy to her? tell meso plainly. By the honour of my house,
answered I, she has shot me through the heart. I never saw anything so
tempting ; a most divine creature! Do bring us acquainted, my dear, and rely
on my gratitude. It is worth while to do these little offices for us of the beau
monde ; they are better paid than our bills.
I have told you once for all, replied the old woman, I am entirely devoted to
people of condition ; it is my passion to be useful to them : I receive here, for
example, a certain class of ladies, whom appearances prevent from seeing their
favourites at home. I lend them my house, and thus the warmth of their con-
stitutions is indulged, without risk to their characters. Vastly well, quoth I,
and you have just done that kindness to the lady in question? No, answered
she, this is a young widow of quality, in want of an admirer ; but so difficult in
her choice, that I do not know whether you will do for her, however great your
requisites may be. I have already introduced to her three well-furnished gal-
92 GIL BLAS.
lants, but she turned up her nose at them. Oh! d, my life, exclaimed I
confidently, you have only to stick me in her skirts, 1 will give you a good ac-
count of her, take my word for it. I long to havea grapple with a beauty of
such peremptory demands, they have not yet fallen inmyway. Well, then, said
the old woman, you have only to come hither to-morrow at the same hour, your
curiosity shall be satisfied, I will not fail, rejoined I ; we shall see whether a
young nobleman can miss a conquest.
I returned to the little barber’s without looking for other adventures, but
deeply interested in the event of this, Therefore, on the following day, I went,
in splendid attire, to the old woman’s an hour sooner than the time. My lord,
said she, you are punctual, and I take it kindly. To besure the game is worth
the chase. I have seen our young widow, and we have had a good deal of talk
about you. Not a word was to be said ; but I have taken such a liking to you
that I cannot hold my tongue. You have made yourself agreeable, and will soon
bea happy man. Between ourselves, the lady is a relishing morsel, her husband
did not live long with her ; he glided away like a shadow : she has all the merit
of an absolute girl, The good old lady, no doubt, meant one of those clever
girls, who contrive not to live single, though they live unmarried.
The heroine of the assignation came soon in an hired carriage, as on the day
before, dressed very magnificently. As soon as she came into the room, I led
off with five or six coxcombical bows, accompanied by the most fashionable
grimaces. After this, I went up to her with a very familiar air, and said—My
adored angel, you behold a gentleman of no mean rank, whom your charms
have undone. Your image, since yesterday, has taken complete possession of
my fancy ; you have turned a duchess neck and heels out of my heart, who was
beginning to establish a footing there. The triumph is too glorious for me, an-
swered she, throwing off her veil, but still my transports are not without alloy.
Young men of fashion love variety, and their hearts are, they say, bandied about
from one to the other like a piece of base money. Ah! my sovereign mistress,
replied I, let us leave the future to shift for itself and think only of the present.
You are lovely, I am in love. If my passion is not hateful to you, let it take
its course at random. We will embark like true sailors, set the storms and
shipwreck of a long voyage at defiance, and only take the fair weather of the
time present into the account.
In finishing this speech, I threw myself in raptures at the feet of my nymph 5
and the better to hit off my assumed character, pressed her with some little
peevishness not to delay my bliss. She seemed a little touched by my remon-
strances, but thought it too soon to yield, and giving me a gentle rebuff—Hold,
said she, you are too importunate, this is like a rake. f fear you are but a
loose young fellow. For shame, madam, exclaimed I; can you set your face
against what women of the first taste and condition encourage? A prejudice
against what is vulgarly called vice may be all very well for citizens’ wives.
That is decisive, replied she, there is no resisting so forcible a plea, I see
plainly that with men of your order dissimulation is to no purpose; a woman
must meet you half way. Learn then your victory, added she with an appear-
ance of disorder, as if her modesty suffered by the avowal; you have inspired
me with sentiments such as are new to my heart, and I only wait to know who
you are, that I may take you for my acknowledged lover. I believe you a young
lord and a gentleman, yet there is no trusting to appearances; and however
prepossessed I may be in your favour, I would not give away my affections to a
stranger.
_I recollected at the moment how Don Antonio’s servant had got out of a
similar perplexity; and determining, after his example, to pass for my master—
Madam, said I to my dainty widow, I will not excuse myself from telling you
THE ADVENTURE ENDS IN A MUTUAL SURPRISE. 93
my name, it is one that will not disparage its owner. Have you ever heard
of Don Matthias de Silva? Yes, replied she; indeed I have seen him with a
lady of my acquaintance. Though considerably improved in impudence, I was
a little troubled by this discovery. Yet I rallied my forces in an instant, and
extricated myself with a happy presence of mind. Well then, my fair one, re-
torted I, the lady of your acquaintance..... knows a lord. .... of my ac-
quaintance..... and I am of his acquaintance; of his own family, since you
must know it. His grandfather married the sister-in-law of my father’s uncle.
You see we are very near relations. My name is Don Cesar. I am the only
son of the great Don Ferdinand de Ribera, slain fifteen years ago, in a battle on
the frontiers of Portugal. I could give you all the particulars of the action; it
was a devilish sharp one..... but to fight it over again would be losing the
precious moments of mutual love.
After this discourse I got to be importunate and impassioned, but without
bringing matters at all forwarder. The favours which my goddess winked at
my snatching, tended only to make me languish for what she was more chary
of. ‘The tyrant got back to her coach, which was waiting at the door. Never-
theless, I withdrew, well enough pleased with my success, though it still fell
short of the only perfect issue. If, said I to myself, I have obtained indulgences
but by halves, it is because this lady, forsooth, is a high-born dame, and thinks
it beneath her quality to play the very woman at the first interview. The pride
of pedigree stands in the way of my advancement just now, but in a few days
we shall be better acquainted. To be sure, it did not once come into my head
.that she might be one of those cunning gipsies always on the catch. Yet I
liked better to look at things on the right side than on the wrong, and thus
maintained a favourable opinion of my widow. We had agreed at parting to
meet again on the day after the morrow; and the hope of arriving at the sum-
mit of my wishes gave me a foretaste of the pleasures with which I tickled my
fancy.
With my brain full of joyous traces, I returned to my barber. Having changed
my dress, I went to attend my master at the tennis-court. I found him at play,
and saw that he won; for he was not one of those impenetrable gamesters who
make or mar a fortune without moving a muscle. In prosperity he was flippant
and overbearing, but quite peevish on the losing side. He left the tennis-court
in high spirits, and went for the Prince’s Theatre. I followed him to the box-
door, then putting a ducat into my hand—Here, Gil Blas, said he, as I have
been a winner to-day, you shall not be the worse for it; go, divert yourself with
your friends, and come to me about midnight at Arsenia’s, where Iam to sup
with Don Alexo Segiar. He then went in, and I stood debating with whom I
should disburse my ducat, according to the pious will of the founder. I did
not muse long. Clarin, Don Alexo’s servant, Just then came in my way. I took
him to the next tavern, and we amused ourselves there till midnight. Thence
we repaired to Arsenia’s house, where Clarin had orders to attend. A little
footboy opened the door, and showed us into a room down-stairs, where Ar-
senia’s waiting-woman, and the lady who held the same office about Florimonde,
' were laughing ready to split their sides, while their mistresses were above-stairs
with our masters.
The addition of two jolly fellows just come from a good supper, could not be
unwelcome to abigails, and to the abigails of actresses too; but what was my
astonishment when in one of these lowly ladies I discovered my widow, my
adorable widow, whom I took for a countess or a marchioness! She appeared
equally amazed to see her dear Don Cesar de Ribera metamorphosed into the
valet of a beau. However, we looked at one another without being out of
countenance; indeed, such a tingling sensation of laughter came over us both,
94 GIL BLAS.
as we could not help indulging in. After which Laura, for that was her name,
drawing me aside while Clarin was speaking to her fellow-servant, held out her
hand to me very kindly, and said in a low voice—Accept this pledge, Signor
Don Czsar; mutual congratulations are more to the purpose than mutual re-
proaches, my friend. You topped your part to perfection, and I was not quite
contemptible in mine, What say you? confess now, did not you take me for one
of those precious peeresses who are fond of a little smuggled amusement? It
is even so, answered I, but whoever you are, my empress, I have not changed
my sentiments with my paraphernalia. Accept my services in good part, and
let the valet-de-chambre of Don Matthias consummate what Don Cesar has so
happily begun. Get you gone, replied she, I like you ten times better in your
Pt A than in your artificial character. You are as a man what Iam asa
woman, and that is the greatest compliment I can pay you. You are admitted
into the number of my adorers. We have no longer any need of the old woman
as a blind, you may come and see me whenever you like. We theatrical ladies
are no slaves to form, but live higgledy Piggledy with the men. ‘I allow that
the effects are sometimes visible, but the public wink hard at our irregularities ;
the drama’s patrons, as you well know, give the drama’s laws, and absolve us
from all others.
We went no further, because there were bystanders. The conversation be-
came general, lively, jovial, inclining to loose jokes, not very carefully wrapped
up. We all of us bore a bob. Arsenia’s attendant above all, my amiable
Laura, was very conspicuous; but her wit was so extremely nimble, that her
virtue could never overtake it. Our masters and the actresses on the floor
above, raised incessant peals of laughter, which reached us in the regions below ;
and probably the entertainment was much alike with the celestials and the
infernals. If all the knowing remarks had been written down, which escaped
from the philosophers that night assembled at Arsenia’s, I really think it would
have been a manual for the rising generation. Yet we could not arrest the
chaste moon in her progress; the rising of that blab, the sun, parted us. Clarin
followed the heels of Don Alexo, and I went home with Don Matthias.
Cu. VI.—TZhe Prince's company of comedians.
My master getting up the next day, received a note from Don Alexo Segiar,
desiring his company immediately. We went, and found there the Marquis de
Zenette, and another young nobleman of prepossessing manners, whom I had
never seen. Don Matthias, said Segiar to my protector, introducing the st :
give me leave to present Don Pompeyo de Castro, a relation of mine. He has
been at the court of Portugal almost from his childhood. He reached Madrid
last night, and returns to Lisbon to-morrow. He can allow me only one day.
I wish to make the most of the precious moments, and thought of asking you
and the Marquis de Zenette to make out the time agreeably. Thereupon my
master and Don Alexo’s relation embraced heartily, and complimented one an-
other in the most extravagant manner. I was much pl with Don Pom-
peyo’s conversation, it showed both acuteness and solidity.
They dined with Segiar ; and the gentlemen, after the dessert, amused them-
selves at play till the theatre opened. Then they went all together to the Prince’s
Ffouse, to see a new tragedy, called Zhe Queen of Carthage. At the end of the ~
piece they returned to supper, and their conversation ran first on the composition,
then upon the actors. As for the work, cried Don Matthias, I think very light-
ly of it. Eneas is a more pious blockhead there than in the Eneid. But it must
be owned that the piece was played divinely. What does Signor Don Pomp
think of it?) He does not seem to agree with me. Gentlemen, said the il
CRITICISM UPON THE ACTRESSES. 95
trious stranger with a smile, you are so enraptured with your actors, and still
more with your actresses, that I scarcely dare avow my dissent. That is very
prudent, interrupted Don Alexo with a sneer, your criticisms would be ill re-
ceived. You should be tender of our actresses before the trumpeters of their
fame. We carouse with them every day, we warrant them sound in their con-
ceptions : we would give vouchers for the justness of their expression if it were
necessary. No doubt of it, answered his kinsman, you would do thesame kind
ini by their lives and their manners, from the same motives of companionable
eeling.
Your ladies of the sock and buskin at Lisbon, said the Marquis de Zenette,
laughing, are doubtless far superior? They certainly are, replied Don Pompeyo.
They are some of them at least perfect in their cast. And these, resumed the
Marquis, would be warranted by you in their conceptions and expressions? I
have no personal acquaintance with them, rejoined Don Pompeyo. I am not
of their revels, and can judge of their merit without partiality. Do you, in good
earnest, think your company first-rate? No, really, said the Marquis, I think
no such thing, and only plead the cause of a few individuals. I give up all the
rest. Will you not allow extraordinary powers to the actress who played Dido ?
Did she not personate that queen with the dignity, and at the same time with
all the bewitching charms, calculated to realize our idea of the character ? Could
you help admiring the skill with which she seizes on the passions of the specta-
tor, and harmonizes their tone to the vibrations she purposes to produce? She
may be called perfect in the exquisite art of declaiming. Iagree with you, said
Don Pompeyo, that she can touch the string either of terror or of pity: never
did any actress come closer to the heart, and the performance is altogether fine ;
but still she is not without her defects. Two or three things disgusted me
in her playing. Would she denote surprise? she glances her eyes to and fro in
a most extravagant manner, altogether unbecoming her supposed majesty as a
princess. Add to this, that in swelling her voice, which is of itself sound and
mellifluous, she goes out of her natural key, and assumes a harsh ranting tone.
Besides, it would seem as if she might be suspected in more than one passage,
of not very clearly comprehending her author. Yet I would in candour rather
suppose her wanting in diligence than capacity.
As far as I see, said Don Matthias to the critic, you will never write compli-
mentary odes to our actresses! Pardon me, answered Don Pompeyo. I can
discover high talent through all their imperfections. I must say that I was en-
chanted with the chambermaid in the interlude. What fine natural parts!
With what grace she treads the stage! Has she anything pointed to deliver?
she heightens it by an arch smile, with a keen glance and sarcastic emphasis,
which convey more to the understanding than the words to the ear. It might
be objected that she sometimes gives too much scope to her animal spirits, and
exceeds the limits of allowable freedom, but that would be hypercritical. There
is one bad habit I should strongly advise her to correct. Sometimes in the very
crisis of the action, and in an affecting passage, she bursts in all at once upon
the interest: with some misplaced jest, to curry favour with the mob of barren
spectators. The pit, you will say, is caught by her artifice ; that may be well
for her popularity, but not for their taste.
And what do you think of the men? interrupted the Marquis ; you must give
them no quarter, since you have handled the women so roughly. Not so, said
Don Pompeyo. There are some promising young actors, and I am particularly
well pleased with that corpulent performer who played the part of Dido’s prime
minister. His recitation is unaffected, and he declaims just as they do in Portu-
gal. If you can bear such a fellow as that, said Segiar, you must be charmed
with the representative of Eneas, Did not you think him a great, an original
96 . GIL BLAS.
performer? Very original, indeed, answered the critic ; his inflections are quite
his own, they are as shrill as an hautboy. Almost always out of nature, he
rattles the impressive words of the sentence off his tongue, while he labours and
lingers on the expletives ; the poor conjunctions are frightened at their own re-
port as they go off. Heentertained me excessively, and especially when he was
expressing in confidence his distress at abandoning the princess ; never was grief
more ludicrously depicted. Fair and softly, cousin, replied Don Alexo ; you
will make us believe at last that good taste is not greatly cultivated at the court
of Portugal. Do you know that the actor of whom we are speaking is esteemed
a phenomenon? Did you not observe what thunders of applause he called
down? He cannot therefore be contemptible. That therefore does not prove
the proposition, replied Don Pompeyo. But, gentlemen, let us lay aside, I
beseech you, the injudicious suffrages of the pit ; they are often given to per-
formers very unseasonably. Indeed, their boisterous tokens of approbation are
more frequently bestowed on paltry copies than on original merit, as Phedrus
teaches us by an ingenious fable. Allow me to repeat it as follows :—
The whole population of a city was assembled in a large square to see a
pantomime played. Among the performers there was one whose feats were
applauded every instant, This buffoon, at the end of the entertainment, wished
to close the scene with a new device. He came alone upon the stage, stooping
down, covering his head with his mantle, and began counterfeiting the squeak
of a pig. He acquitted himself so naturally as to be suspected of having the
animal itself concealed within the folds of his drapery. He stripped, but there
was no pig. Theassembly rang with more furious applause than ever. A pea-
sant, among the spectators, was disgusted at this misplaced admiration. Gen-
tlemen, exclaimed he, you are in the wrong to be so delighted with this buffoon,
he is not so good a mimic as you take him for. I can enact the pig better ; if
you doubt it, only attend here this time to-morrow. The people, prejudiced in
the cause of their favourite, collected in ter numbers on the next day, rather
to hiss the countryman than to see what he could do. The rivals appeared on
the stage. The buffoon began, and was more applauded than the day before.
Then the farmer stooping down in his turn, with his head wrapped up in his
cloak, pulled the ear of a real pig under his arm, and made it squeal most hor-
ribly. Yet this enlightened audience persisted in giving the preference to their
favourite, and hooted the countryman off the boards.; who producing the pig
before he went, said—Gentlemen, you are not hissing me, but the original pig.
So much for your judgment.
Cousin, said Don Alexo, your fable is rather satirical. Nevertheless, in spite
of your pig, we will not bate an inch of our opinion. But let us change the
subject, this is grown threadbare. ‘Then you set off to-morrow, do what we can
to keep you with us longer? I should like, answered his kinsman, to protract
my stay with you, but it is not in my power. I have told you already that I
am come to the court of Spain on an affair of state. Yesterday, on my arrival,
I had a conference with the prime minister ; I am to see him to-morrow morn-
ing, and shall set out immediately afterwards on my return to Lisbon. You are
become quite a Portuguese, observed Segiar, and, to all appearance, we shall
lose you entirely from Madrid. I think otherwise, replied Don Pompeyo, I
have the honour to stand well with the King of Portugal, and have many mo-
tives of attachment to that court ; yet with all the kindness that sovereign has
testified towards me, would you believe that I have been on the point of quitting
his dominions for ever. Indeed! by what strange accident? said the Marquis.
Give us the history, I beseech you. Very readily, answered Don Pompeyo, and
at the same time my own, for it is closely interwoven with the recital for which
you have called,
HISTORY OF DON POMPEYO DE CASTRO. 97
Cu. VIL.—¥AHistory of Don Pompeyo de Castro.
Don ALExo knows, that from my boyish days, my passion was for a military
life. Our own country being at peace, I went into Portugal; thence to Africa
with the Duke of Braganza, who gave me a commission. I was a younger
brother, with as slender a provision as most in Spain; so that my only chance
was in attracting the notice of the commander-in-chief by my bravery. I was
so far from deficient in my duty, that the Duke promoted me, step by step, to
one of the most honourable posts in the service. After a long war, of which
you all know the issue, I devoted myself to the court ; and the King, on strong
testimonials from the general officers, rewarded me with a considerable pension.
Alive to that sovereign’s generosity, I lost no opportunity of proving my grati-
tude by my diligence. I was in attendance as often as etiquette would allow
me to offer myself to his notice. By this conduct I gained insensibly the love
of that prince, and received new favours from his hands.
One day, when I distinguished myself in running at the ring, and in a bull-
fight preceding it, all the court extolled my strength and dexterity. On my
return home, with my honours thick upon me, I found there a note, informing
me that a lady, my conquest over whom ought to flatter me more than all the
glory I had gained that day, wished to have the pleasure of my company ; and
that I had only to attend in the evening, at a place marked out in the letter.
This was more than all my public triumphs, and I concluded:the writer to be a
woman of the first quality. You may guess that I did not loiter by the way.
An old woman in waiting, as my guide, conducted me by a little garden-gate
into a large house, and left me in an elegant closet, saying—Stay here, I will
acquaint my mistress with your arrival. I observed a great many articles of
value in the closet, which was magnificently illuminated ; but this splendour
only caught my attention as confirming me in my previous opinion of the lady’s
high rank, If appearances strengthened that conjecture, her noble and majestic
air on her entrance left no doubt on my mind, Yet I was a little out in my
calculation.
Noble sir, said she, after the step I have taken in your favour it were imper-
tinent to disown my partiality Your brilliant actions of to-day, in presence of
the court, were not the inspirers of my sentiments, they only urge forward this
avowal, I have seen you more than once, have inquired into your character,
and the result has determined me to follow the impulse of my heart. But do
not suppose that you are well with a Duchess. Iam but the widow ofa cap-
tain in the King’s Guards ; yet there is something to throw a radiance round
your victory...... the preference you have gained over one of the first noblemen
in the kingdom, The Duke d’Almeyda loves me, and presses his suit with
ardour, yet withoutsuccess, My vanity only induces me to bear his importunities,
Though I saw plainly, by this address, that I had got in with a coquet, my
presiding star was not a whit out of my good graces for involving me in this
adventure. Donna Hortensia, for that was the lady’s name, was just in the
ripeness and luxuriance of youth and dazzling beauty. Nay, more, she had re-
fused the possession of her heart to the earnest entreaties of a duke, and offered
it unsolicited to me. What a feather in the cap of a Spanish cavalier! I pros-
trated myself at Hortensia’s feet, to thank her for her favours. I talked just as
a man of gallantry always does talk, and she had reason to be satisfied with
the extravagance of my acknowledgments. Thus we parted the best friends in
the world, on the terms of meeting every evening when the Duke d’Almeyda
was prevented from coming ; and she promised to give me due notice of his
absence. The bargain was exactly fulfilled, and I was turned into the Adonis
of this new Venus. :
98 GIL BLAS.
But the pleasures of this life are transitory. With all the lady’s precautions
to conceal our private treaty of commerce from my rival, he found means of
gaining a knowledge, of which it concerned us greatly to keep him ignorant : a
disloyal chamber-maid divulged the state secret. This nobleman, naturally
generous, but proud, self-sufficient, and violent, was exasperated at my pre-
sumption, Anger and jealousy set him beside himself. Taking counsel only
with his rage, he resolved on an infamous revenge. One night when I was
with Hortensia, he waylaid me at the little garden-gate, with all his servants
provided with cudgels. As soon as I came out, he ordered me to be seized,
and beat to death by these wretches. Lay on, said he, let the rash intruder
give up the ghost under your chastisement ; thus shall his insolence be punished.
No sooner had he finished these words, than his myrmidons assaulted me in a
body, and gave me such a ene, 3 as to stretch me senseless on the ground :
after which they hurried off with their master, to whom this butchery had been
a delicious pastime. I lay the remainder of the night, just as they had left me.
At daybreak some people passed by, who, finding that life was still in me,
had the humanity to carry me to a surgeon. Fortunately my wounds were not
mortal ; and, falling into skilful hands, I was perfectly cured in two months.
At the end of that period I made my appearance again at court, and resumed
my former way of life, except that I steered clear of Hortensia, who on her
part made no further attempt to renew the acquaintance, because the Duke, on
that condition, had pardoned her infidelity.
As my adventure was the town talk, and I was known to be no coward,
eople were astonished to see me as quiet as if I had received no affront ; for I
eet my thoughts to myself, and seemed to have no quarrel with any man
living. No one knew what to think of my counterfeited insensibility. Some
imagined that, in spite of my courage, the rank of the aggressor overawed me,
and occasioned my tacit submission. Others, with more reason, mistrusted my
silence, and considered my inoffensive demeanour as a cover to my revenge.
The King was of opinion with these last, that I was not a man to put up with
an insult, and that I should not be wanting to myself at a convenient opportu-
nity. To discover my real intentions, he sent for me one day into his closet,
where he.said : Don Pompeyo, I know what accident has befallen you, and am
surprised, I own, at your forbearance. You are certainly acting a part. Sire,
answered I, how can I know whom to challenge? I was attacked in the night
by persons unknown: it is a misfortune of which I must make the best. No,
no, replied the King, I am not to be duped by these evasive answers. The
whole story has reached my ears. The Duke d’Almeyda has touched your
honour to the quick, Youare nobly born, and a Castilian: I know what that
double character requires. You cherish hostile designs. Admit mea party to
your purposes ; it must be so, Never fear the consequences of making me
your confidant.
Since your majesty commands it, resumed I, my sentiments shall be laid
open without reserve. Yes, sir, I meditate a severe retribution. Every man,
wearing such a name as mine, must account for its untarnished lustre with his
family. You know the unworthy treatment I have experienced ; and I purpose
assassinating the Duke d’Almeyda, as a mode of revenge correspondent to the
injury. I shall plunge a dagger in his bosom, or shoot him through the head,
and escape, if I can, into Spain. This is my design.
It is violent, said the King: and yet I have little to say against it, after the
provocation which the Duke d’Almeyda has given you. He is worthy of the
eo you destine for him. But do not be in a hurry with your project.
eave me to devise a method of bringing you together again as friends. Oh!
sir, exclaimed I with vexation, why did you extort my secret from me? What
HISTORY OF DON POMPEYO DE CASTRO. 99
expedient can....If mine is not to your satisfaction, interrupted he, you may
execute your first intention. Ido not mean to abuse your confidence. I shal)
not implicate your honour ; so rest contented on that head.
I was greatly puzzled to guess by what means the King designed to terminate
this affair amicably: but thus it was. He sent to speak with the Duke
d’ Almeyda in private. Duke, said he, you have insulted Don Pompeyo de
Castro. You are not ignorant that he is a man of noble birth, a soldier who
has served with credit, and stands high in my favour. You owe him repara-
tion. Iam not of a temper to refuse it, answered the Duke. If he complains
of my outrageous behaviour, I am ready to justify it by the law of arms. Some-
thing very different must be done, replied the King: a Spanish gentleman un-
derstands the point of honour too well to fight on equal terms with a cowardly
assassin. I can use no milder term; and you can only atone for the heinous-
ness of your conduct, by presenting a cane in person to your antagonist, and
offering to submit yourself to its discipline. Oh heaven! exclaimed the Duke:
what! sir, would you have a man of my rank degrade, debase himself before a
simple gentleman, and submit to be caned! No, replied the monarch, I will
oblige Don Pompeyo to promise not to touch you. Only offer him the cane,
and ask his pardon : that is all I require from you. And that is too much, sir,
interrupted the Duke d’Almeyda warmly ; I had rather remain exposed to all
the secret machinations of his resentment. Your life is dear to me, said the
king ; and I should wish this affair to have no bad consequences. To terminate
it with less disgust to yourself, I will be the only witness of the satisfaction
which I order you to offer to the Spaniard.
The King was obliged to stretch his influence over the Duke to the utmost,
before he could induce him to so mortifying a step. However, the peremptory
monarch effected his purpose, and then sent forme. He related the particulars
of his conversation with my enemy, and inquired if I should be content with
the stipulated reparation. I answered, yes: and gave my word that, far from
striking the offender, I would not even accept the cane, when he presented it.
With this understanding, the Duke and myself at a certain hour attended the
King, who took us into his closet. Come, said he to the Duke, acknowledge
your fault, and deserve to be forgiven by the humility of your contrition. Then
my antagonist made his apology, and offered me the cane in his hand. Don
Pompeyo, said the monarch unexpectedly, take the cane, and let not my pre-
sence prevent you from doing justice to your outraged honour. I release you
from your promise not to strike the Duke. No, sir, answered I, it is enough
that he has submitted to the indignity of the offer: an offended Spaniard asks
no more. Well, then! replied the King, since you are content with this satis-
faction, you may both of you at once assume the privilege of a gentlemanly
quarrel, Measure your swords, and discuss the question honourably. It is
what I most ardently desire, exclaimed the Duke d’Almeyda in a menacing
tone ; for that only is competent to make me amends for the disgraceful step I
have taken.
With these words, he went away full of rage and shame; and sent to tell
me, two hours after, that he was waiting for me, in a retired place, I kept
the appointment, and found this nobleman ready to fight lustily. He was not
five and forty ; deficient neither in courage nor in skill: so that the match was
fair and equal. Come on, Don Pompeyo, said he, let us terminate our differ-
ence here. Our hostility ought to be reciprocally mortal ; yours, for my ag-
gression, and mine, for having asked your pardon. These words were no
sooner out of his mouth, than he drew upon me so suddenly, that I had no
time to reply. He pressed very closely upon me at first, but I had the good
fortune to put by all his thrusts. I acted on the offensive in my turn: the en-
100 GIL BLAS.
counter was evidently with a man equally skilled in defence or in attack ; and
there is no knowing what might have been the issue, if he had not made a
false step in retiring, and fallen backwards. I stood still immediately, and said
to the duke, Recover yourself. Why give me any quarter? he answered.
Your forbearance only aggravates my disgrace. I will not take advantage of
an accident, replied I; it would only tarnish my glory. Once more recover
yourself, and let us fight it out.
Don Pompeyo, said he rising, after this act of generosity, honour allows me
not to renew the attack upon you. What would the world say of me, were I
to wound you mortally? I should be branded as a coward for having murdered
a man, at whose mercy 1 had just before lain prostrate. I cannot therefore
again lift my arm against your life, and I feel my resentful passions subsiding
into the sweet emotions of gratitude. Don Pompeyo, let us mutually lay aside
our hatred. Let us go still further; let us be friends. Ah! my lord, exclaimed
I, so flattering a proposal I joyfully accept. I proffer you my sincere friend-
ship; and, as an earnest, promise never more to approach Donna Hortensia,
though she herself should invite me. It is my duty, said he, to yield that lady
to you, Justice requires me to give her ups since her affections are yours
already. No, no, interrupted I; you love her. Her partiality in my favour
would give you uneasiness; I sacrifice my own pleasures to your peace. Ah!
too generous Castilian, replied the Duke, embracing me, your sentiments are
truly noble. With what remorse do they strike me! Grieved and ashamed, I
look back on the outrage you have sustained. The reparation in the King’s
chamber seems now too trifling. A better recompense awaits you. To obliter-
ate all remembrance of your shame, take one of my nieces whose hand is at
my disposal. She is a rich heiress, not fifteen, with beauty beyond the attrac-
tions of mere youth.
I made my acknowledgments to the Duke in terms such as the high honour
of his alliance might suggest, and married his niece a few days afterwards. All
the court complimented this nobleman on having made such generous amends
to an insulted rival; and my friends took part in my joy at the happy issue of
an adventure which might have led to the most melancholy consequences, From
this time, gentlemen, I have lived happily at Lisbon. I am_the idol of my
wife, and have not sunk the lover in the husband. The Duke d’Almeyda
gives me new proofs of friendship every day; and I may venture to boast of
standing high in the King of Portugal’s good graces. The importance of my
errand hither sufficiently assures me of his confidence.
Cu. VIII.—Ax accident, in consequence of which Gil Blas was obliged to look
out for another place. ,
SucH was Don Pompeyo’s story, which Don Alexo’s servant and myself over-
heard, agen we were prudently sent away before he began his recital. In-
stead of withdrawing, we skulked behind the door, which we had left half open,
and from that station we did not miss a word. After this, the company went
on drinking; but they did not prolong their carousals till the morning, because
Don Pompeyo, who was to speak with the prime minister, wished for a little
rest beforehand. The Marquis de Zenette and my master took a cordial leave
of the stranger, and left him with his kinsman.
We went to bed for once before daybreak; and Don Matthias, when he
awoke, invested me with a new office. Gil Blas, said he, take ink, and
paper, and write two or three letters as I shall dictate: you shall henceforth be
my secretary. Well and good! said I to myself, a plurality of functions. As
footman, I follow my master’s heels; as valet-de-chambre, I help him to dress ;
GIL BLAS WRITES FICTITIOUS LOVE-LETTERS. '~ tot
and write for him as his secretary. Heaven be. praised for “nity apotheosis!”
Like the triple Hecate of the Pantheon, I am to enact three different characters
at the same time. Can you guess my intention? continued he. Thus it is:
but take care what you are about; your life may depend on it. As I am con-
tinually meeting with fellows who boast of their success among the women, I.
mean, by way of getting the upper hand, to fill my pockets with fictitious love-
letters, and read them in company. It will be amusing enough. Happier than
my competitors, who make conquests only for the pleasure of the boast, I
shall take the credit of intrigue, and spare myself the labour. But vary your
ae so that the manufacture may not be detected by the sameness of the
and.
I then sat down to comply with the commands of Don Matthias, who first
dictated a tender epistle to this tune— You did not keep your promise to-night.
Ah! Don Matthias, how will you exculpate yourself? My error was a cruel
one! But you punish me deservedly for my vanity, in fancying that business
and amusement were all to give may before the pleasure of seeing Donna Clara de
Mendoza! After this pretty note, he made me write another, as if from a lady who
sacrificed a prince to him; and then a third, whose fair writer offered, if she
could rely on his discretion, to embark with him for the shores of Cytherean
enchantment. It was not enough to dictate these love-sick strains; he forced
me to subscribe them with the most high-flying names in Madrid. I could not
forbear hinting at some little hazard in all this, but he begged me to keep my
sage counsels till they were called for. I was obliged to hold my tongue, and
dispatch his orders out of hand. That done, he got up, and dressed with my
assistance. The letters were put into his pocket, and out he went. I followed
him to dinner with Don Juan de Moncade, who entertained five or six gentle-
men of his acquaintance that day.
There was a grand set-out, and mirth, the best relish, was not wanting to
the banquet. All the guests contributed to enliven the conversation, some by
wit and humour, others by anecdotes of which the relaters were the heroes.
My master would not lose so fine an opportunity of bringing our joint perform-
ances to bear. He read them audibly, and with so much assurance, that
probably the whole party, with the exception of his secretary, was taken in by
the device. Among the company, before whom this trick was so impudently
played off, there was one person, by name Don Lope de Velasco. ‘This per-
son, a very grave don, instead of making himself merry like the rest with the
fictitious triumphs of the reader, asked him coolly if the conquest of Donna Clara
had been achieved with any great difficulty? Less than the least, answered ”
Don Matthias; the advances were all on her side. She saw me in public, and
took a fancy to my person. A scout was commissioned to follow me, and thus
she got at my name and condition. She wrote to me, and gave me an appoint-
ment at an hour of the night when the house was sure to be quiet. I was true
as the needle to the pole; her bedchamber was the place... .. But prudence
and delicacy forbid my describing what passed there.
At this instance of tender regard for the lady’s character, Signor de Velasco
betrayed some very passionate workings in his countenance. It was easy to see
the interest he took in the subject. All these letters, said he to my master,
looking at him with an eye of indignation and contempt, are infamous forgeries,
and above all that which you boast of having received from Donna Clara de
Mendoza. There is not in all Spain a more modest young creature than her-
self. For these two years, a gentleman, at least your equal in birth and per-
sonal merit, has been trying every method of insinuating himself into her heart.
Scarcely have his assiduities extorted the slightest encouragement: but yet he
may flatter himself that, if anything beyond common civility had been granted
pone S02 SORA Caine irae
at alf, it,would -have been-to him only. Well! Who says to the contrary ?
intérrupted Don Matthias in a bantering way. I agree with you, that the lady
is a very pretty behaved young lady. On ny pets Iam a very pretty behaved
young gentleman, Ergo, you may rest assured that nothing took place between
us but what was pretty and well behaved. Indeed! This is too much, inter-
rupted Don Lope in his turn; let us lay aside this unseasonable jesting. You
are an impostor. Donna Clara never gave you an appointment by night. Her
reputation shall not be blackened by your ribaldry.. But prudence and delicacy
forbid.my describing what must pass between youand me. With this retort
on his lips, he looked contemptuously round, and withdrew with a menacing
aspect, which anticipated serious consequences to my judgment. My master,
whose courage was better than his cause, held the threats of Don Lope in derision.
A blockkead ! exclaimed he, bursting into a loud fit of laughter. Our knights-
errant used to tilt for the beauty of their mistresses, this fellow would engage
in the lists for the forlorn hope of virtue in his; he is more ridiculous than his
prototypes.
Velasco’s retiring, in vain opposed by Moncade, occasioned no interruption
to the merriment. The party, without thinking further about it, kept the ball
up briskly, and did not part till they had made free with the next day. We
went to bed, that is, my master and myself, about five o’clock in the morning.
Sleep sat heavy on my eyelids, and, as I thought, was taking permanent pos-
session thereof ; but I reckoned without my host, or rather without our porter,
who came and waked me in an hour, to say that there was a lad inquiring for me at
the door. Oh! thou infernal porter, muttered I indistinctly, through the inter-
stices of a long yawn, do you consider that I have but now got to bed? Tell
the little rascal that I am just asleep; he must come again by-and-by. He in-
sists, replied Cerberus, on speaking with you instantly ; his business cannot wait.
As that was the case I got up, put on nothing but my breeches and doublet, and
went down-stairs, swearing pe 3 gaping. My friend, said I, be so good as to let
me know what urgent affair procures me the honour of seeing you so early? I
have a letter, answered he, to deliver personally into the hands of Signor Don
Matthias, to be read by him without loss of time; it is of the last consequence
to him—pray show me into hisroom, As I thought the matter looked serious,
I took the liberty of disturbing my master. Excuse me, said I, for waking you,
but the pressing nature. .... What do you want? interrupted he, just in my
style with the porter. Sir, said the lad who was at my elbow, here is a letter
from Don Lope de Velasco. Don Matthias looked at the cover, broke it, and
after reading the contents, said to the: messenger of Don Lope—My good fellow,
I never get up before noon, let the party be ever so agreeable; judge whether
I can be expected to be stirring by six in the morning for a small-sword re-
creation. You may tell your master, that if he chooses to kick his heels at the
spot till half-past twelve, we will come and see how he looks there—carry him
that answer. With this flippant speech he plunged down snugly under the bed-
clothes and fell fast asleep again as if nothing had happened.
Between eleven and twelve he got up and dressed himself with the utmost
composure, and went out, telling me that there was no occasion for my attend-
ance: but I was too much on the tenterhooks about the result to mind his
orders. I sneaked after him to Saint Jerome’s meadow, where I saw Don Lope
de Velasco waiting for him. I took my station to watch them; and was an
eye-witness to all the circumstances of their rencounter. They saluted, and be-
gan their fierce debate without delay. The engagement lasted long. They
exchanged thrusts alternately, with equal skill and mettle. The victory, how-
ever, was on the side of Don Lope: he ran my master through, laid him help-
less on the ground, and made his escape, with apparent satisfaction at the severe
GIL BLAS VISITS LAURA. 103
reprisal. I ran up to the unfortunate Don Matthias, and found him in a most
desperate situation. The sight melted me. I could not help weeping at a
catastrophe to which I had been an involuntary contributor. Nevertheless, with
all sympathy, I had still my little wits about me. Home went I in a hurry,
without saying a word. I made up a bundle of my own goods and chattels,
inadvertently slipping in some odd articles belonging to my master : and when
I had deposited this with the barber, where my dress as a fine gentleman was
still lodged, I published the news of the fatal accident. Any gaper might have
it for the trouble of listening; and above all, I took care to make Rodriguez
acquainted with it. He would have been extremely afflicted, but that his
own proceedings in this delicate case required all his attention. He called the
servants together, ordered them to follow him, and we went all together to Saint
Jerome’s meadow. Don Matthias was taken up alive, but he died three hours
after he was brought home. Thus ended the life of Signor Don Matthias de
Silva, only for having taken a fancy to reading supposititious love-letters un-
seasonably. VAy Sane A Hy h hime 4 LtLnn pp bean
v
Cu. IX.—A new service, after the death of Don Matthias de Silva.
SOME days after the funeral, the establishment was paid up and discharged.
I fixed my head-quarters with the little barber, in a very close connection with
whom I began to live. It seemed to promise more pleasure than with Melen-
dez. As I was in no want of money, it was time enough to think of another
place: besides, I had got to be rather nice on that head. I would not go into
service any more, but in families above the vulgar. In short, I was determined
to inquire very strictly into the character of a new place. The best would not
be too good; such high pretensions did the late valet of a young nobleman
think himself entitled to assume above the common herd of servants.
Waiting till fortune should throw a situation in my way, worthy to be hon-
oured by my acceptance, I thought I could not do better than to devote my
leisure to my charming Laura, whom I had not seen since the pleasant occur-
rence of our double discovery. I could not venture on dressing as Don Cesar
de Ribera; it would have been an act of madness to have assumed that style but
as a disguise. Besides that my own suit was not much out of condition, all
smaller articles had propagated miraculously in the aforesaid bundle. I made
myself up, therefore, with the barber’s aid, as a sort of middle man between Don
Cesar and Gil Blas. In this demi-character, I knocked at Arsenia’s door.
Laura was alone in the parlour where we had met last. Ah! is it you? cried
she, as soon as she saw me; I thought you were lost. You have had leave to
come and see me for this week : but it seems you are modest, and do not pre-
sume too much on your license.
I made my apology on the score of my master’s death, with my own engage-
ments consequent thereupon ; and I added, in the spirit of gallantry, that in my
greatest perplexities, my lovely Laura had always been foremost in my thoughts.
That being so, said she, I have no more reproaches to make; and I will frankly
own that I have thought of you. As soon as I was acquainted with the un-
timely end of Don Matthias, a plan occurred to me, probably not quite dis-
pleasing to you. I have heard my mistress say some time ago, that she wanted
a sort of man of business; a good arithmetician, to keep an exact account of our
outgoings. I fixed my affections on your lordship ; you seem exactly calculated
for such an office. I feel myself, answered I, a steward by inspiration. I have
read all that Aristotle has written on finance ; and as for reducing it to the modern
system of book-keeping ..... But, my dear girl, there is one impediment in
‘ the way. What impediment? said Laura. I havesworn, replied I, never again
104 GIL BLAS.
to live with a commoner: I have sworn by Styx, or something else as binding.
If Jupiter could not burst the links of such an oath, judge whether a poor serv-
ant ought not to be bound by it. What do you mean by a commoner? re-
joined the impetuous abigail: for what do you take us actresses? Do you
take us for the ribs of the limbs of the law? for attorneys’ wives? I would
have you to know, my friend, that actresses rank with the first nobility; being
cnly common to the uncommon, and therefore, though common, uncommonly
illustrious.
On that footing, my uncommon commoner, said I, the post you have destined
for me is mine: I shall not lower my dignity by accepting it. No, to besure,
said she : backwards and forwards between a puppy of fashion and a she-wolf
of the stage ; why, it is exactly preserving an equilibrium of rank in the creation.
We are sympathetic animals, just on a level with the people of quality. We
have our equipages in the same style ; we give our little suppers on the same
scale ; and on the broad ground we are just of as much use in civil society. In
fact, to draw a parallel between a marquis and a player through the space of
four and twenty hours, they are just ona par. The marquis, for three-fourths
of the time, ranks above the player by political courtesy and sufferance : the
player, during his hour on the stage, overtops the marquis in the part of an em-
peror or a king, which he better knows how to enact. Thus there seems to be
a balance between natural and political nobility, which places us at least ona
level with the live lumber of the court. Yes, truly, replied I, you are a match
for one another, there is no gainsaying it. Bless their dear hearts! the players
are not men of straw, as I foolishly believed, and you have made my mouth
water to serve such a worshipful fraternity. Well, then! resumed she, you have
only to come back again in two days, ‘That time will be sufficient to incline
my mistress in your favour ; I will speak up for you. She is a little under my
influence ; I do not fear bringing you under this roof.
I thanked Laura for her good dispositions. My gratitude took the readiest
way to prove itself to her comprehension ; and my tender thrillings expressed
more than words. We had a pretty long conversation together, and it might
have lasted till this time, if a little skipping fellow had not come to tell my
nymph of the side scenes that Arsenia was inquiring for her. We parted. I
left the house, in the sweet hope of soon living there scot-free ; and my face was
shown up again at the door in two days. I was looking out for you, said my
accomplished scout, to assure you that you area messmate at this house. Come,
follow me ; I will introduce you to my mistress. At these words, she led me
into a suite of five or six rooms on a floor, in a regular gradation of costly fur-
niture and tasteful equipment.
What luxury! What magnificence! I thought myself in presence of a vice-
queen, or, to mend the poverty of the comparison, in a fairy palace, where all
the riches of the earth were collected. In fact, there were the productions of
many people and of many countries, so that one might describe this residence
as the temple of a goddess, whither every traveller brought some rare product
of his native land, as a votive offering. The divinity was reclining on a volup-
tuous satin sofa : she was lovely in my eyes, and pampered with the fumes of
daily sacrifices. She wasin atempting dishabille, and her polished hands were
elegantly busy about a new head-dress for her appearance that evening. Ma-
dam, said the abigail, here is that said steward ; take my word for it, you will
never get one more to yourliking. Arsenia looked at me very inquisitively, and
did not find me disagreeable. Why, this is something, Laura, cried she; a
very smart youth truly: I foresee that we shall do very well together. Then
directing her discourse to me, Young man, added she, you suit me to a hair,
and I have only one observation to make : you will be pleased with me, if Iam
LAURA MAKES GIL BLAS FEALOUS. 105
so with you. I answered that I should do my utmost to serve her to her heart’s
content. As I found that the bargain was struck, I went immediately to fetch
in my own little accommodations, and returned to take formal possession.
Cu. X.—Much such another as the foregoing.
Ir was near the time of the doors opening. My mistress told me to attend her
to the theatre with Laura. We went into her dressing-room, where she threw
off her ordinary attire, and assumed a more splendid costume for the stage.
When the performance began, Laura shewed me the way, and seated herself by
my side where I could see and hear the actors to advantage. They disgusted
me for the most part, doubtless because Don Pompeyo had prejudiced me against
them. Several of them were loudly applauded, but the fable of the pig would
now and then come across my mind.
Laura told me the names of the actors and actresses as they made their en-
trances. Nor did she stop there, for the hussey gave some highly seasoned
anecdotes into the bargain. Her characters were, crack-brain for this, imperti-
nent fellow for that. ‘That delicate sample of sin, who depends on her wanton-
ness for her attractions, goes by the name of Rosarda : a bad speculation for the
company! She ought to be sent with the next cargo to New Spain, she may .
answer the purpose of the viceroy, Take particular notice of that brilliant star
now coming forward ; that magnificent setting sun, increasing in bulk as its fires
become less vivid. That is Casilda. If from that distant day when she first
laid herself open to her lovers, she had required from each of them a brick to
build a pyramid, like an ancient Egyptian princess, the edifice by this time would
have mounted to the third heaven. In short, Laura tore all character to pieces
by her scandal. Heaven forgive her wicked tongue! She blasphemed her own
mistress,
And yet I must own my weakness. I was in love with the wench, though
her morals were not strictly pure. She scandalized with so winning a malignity
that one liked her the better for it. Off went the jill-flirt between the acts, to
see if Arsenia wanted her; but instead of coming straight back to her place,
she amused herself behind the scenes, in laying herself out for the little flatteries
of all the wheedling fellows. I dogged her once, and found that she had a very
large acquaintance. No less than three players did I reckon up, who stopped
to chat with her one after the other, and they seemed to be on a very improv-
able footing. This was not quite so well ; and for the first time in my life I felt
what jealousy was. I returned to my seat so absent and out of spirits, that
Laura remarked it as soon as she came back to me. What is the matter, Gil
Blas, said she with astonishment ; what blue devil has perched upon your
shoulder in my absence? You look gloomy and out of temper. My fairy
queen, answered I, it is not without reason, you have an ugly kick in your gal-
lop. I have ohserved you with the players..... . ++. So, so! Anadmirable
subject for a long face, interrupted she with a laugh. What! That is your
trouble, is it? Why really! Youarea very silly swain ; but you will get better
notions among us. You will fall by degrees into our easy manners. No jeal-
ousy, my dear creature, you will be completely laughed out of it in the theatri-
cal world. The passion is scarcely known there. Fathers, husbands, brothers,
uncles, and cousins, are all upon a liberal plan of community, and often make a
strange jumble of relationships.
After having warned me to take no umbrage, but to look at everything like
a philosophical spectator, she vowed that I was the happy mortal who had
found the way to her heart. She then declared that she should love me always,
and only me. On this assurance, which a man miglit have doubted with-
106 GIL BLAS.
out criminal scepticism, I promised her not to be alarmed any more, and kept
-my word. I saw her, on that very evening, whisper and giggle with more men
than one. At the end of the play we returned home with our mistress,
whither Florimonde came soon after to supper, with three old noblemen and a
player. Besides Laura and myself, the establishment consisted of a cook-maid,
a coachman, and a little footboy. We all laboured in our respective vocations.
The lady of the frying-pan, no less an adept than Dame Jacintha, was assisted
in her cookery by the coachman. The waiting-woman and the little footboy
laid the cloth, and I set out the sideboard, magnificently furnished with plate,
offered up at the shrine of our green-room goddess. There was every variety of
wines, and I played the cup-bearer, to show my mistress the versatility of my
talents. I sweated at the impudence of the actresses during supper; they
gave themselves quality airs, and affected the tone of high life. Far from
giving their guests all their style and titles, they did not even vouchsafe a simple
** Your lordship,” but called them familiarly by their proper names. To be
sure, the old fools encouraged their vanity by forgetting their own distance.
The player, for his part, in the habits of the heroic cast, lived on equal terms with
them ; he challenged them to drink, and in every respect took the upper hand.
In good truth, said I to myself, while Laura was demonstrating the equality of
the Marquis and the comedian during the day, she might have drawn a still
sane inference for the night, since they pass it so merrily in drinking
together.
Arsenia and Florimonde were naturally frolicsome. A thousand broad
hints escaped them, intermingled with small favours, and then a coquettish
revolt at their own freedom, which were all seasoned exactly to the taste of
these old sinners. While my mistress was entertaining one of them with a
little harmless toying, her friend, between the other elders, had not taken the
cue of Susanna. While I was contemplating this picture, which had but too
many attractions for a knowing youth like me, the dessert was brought in.
Then I set the bottles and glasses on the table, and made my escape to sup
with Laura, who was waiting for me. How now! Gil Blas, said she, what
do you think of those noblemen above-stairs ? Doubtless, answered I, they are
deeply smitten with Arsenia and Florimonde. No, replied she, they are old
sensualists, who hang about our sex without any particular attachment. All
they ask is some little frivolous compliance, and they are generous enough to
pay well for the least trifle of amorous endearment. Heaven be praised, Flo-
rimonde and my mistress are at present without any serious engagements; I
mean that they have no husband-like lovers, who expect to engross all the
pleasures of a house, because they stand to the expenses. For my part, I am
very glad of it: and maintain that a sensible woman of the world ought to
refuse all such monopolies. Why take a master? It is better to support an
establishment by retail trade, than to confine one’s self to chamber practice on
such terms,
When Laura’s tongue was wound up, and it was seldom down, words seemed
to cost her nothing. What a glorious volubility! She told a thousand stories
of the actresses belonging to the prince’s company; and I gathered from her
whole drift that I could not be better situated to take a scientific view of the
cardinal vices. Unfortunately I was at an age when they inspire but little hor-
ror; and this abigail had the art of colouring her corruptions so lusciously as
to hide their deformities and heighten their meretricious lure. She had not
time to open the tenth part of her theatrical budget, for she did not talk more
than three hours. The senators and the player went away with Florimonde,
whom they saw safe home.
When they were gone, my mistress said to me—Here, Gil Blas, are ten pis-
A THEATRICAL LIFE. 107
toles to go to market to-morrow. Five or six of our gentlemen and ladies are to
dine here, take care that we are well served. Madam, answered I, with this
sum there shall be a banquet for the whole troop. My friend, replied Arsenia,
correct your phraseology ; you must say company, not troop. <A troop of rob-
bers, a troop of beggars, a troop of authors; but a company of comedians,
especially when you have to mention the actors of Madrid. I begged my mis-
tress’s pardon for having used so disrespectful a term, and entreated her to
excuse my ignorance. I protested that henceforward, when I spoke collectively
of so august a body, I would always say the company.
Cu. XL—A theatrical life and an author’s life.
I TOOK the field the next morning, to open my campaign as steward. It was
a fish day; for which reason I bought some good fat chickens, rabbits, par-
tridges, and every variety of game. As the gentlemen of the sock and buskin
are not on the best possible terms with the church, they are not over-scrupulous
in their observance of the rubric. I brought home provisions more than enough
for a dozen portly gentlemen to have fasted on during a whole Lent. The
cook had a good morning’s work. While she was getting dinner ready,
Arsenia got up and spent the early part of the day at her toilet. At noon
came two of the players, Signor Rosimiro and Signor Ricardo. Afterwards
two actresses, Constance and Celinaura ; then entered Florimonde, attended
by a man who had all the appearance of a most spruce cavalier. He had his
hair dressed in the most elegant manner, his hat set off with a fashionable
plume, very tight breeches, and a shirt with a laced frill. His gloves and his
handkerchief were in the hilt of his sword, and he wore his cloak with a grace
altogether peculiar to himself. .
With a prepossessing physiognomy and a good person, there was something
extraordinary in the first blush of him. This gentleman, said I to myself, must
be an original. I was not mistaken ; his singularities were striking. On his
entrance, he ran with open arms and embraced the company, male and female,
one after another. His grimaces were more extravagant than any I had yet
seen in this region of foppery. My prediction was not falsified by his discourse.
He dwelt with fondness on every syllable he uttered, and pronounced his words
in an emphatic tone, with gestures and glances artfully adapted to the subject.
I had the curiosity to ask Laura who this strange figure might be. I forgive
you, said she, this instance of an inquisitive disposition. It is impossible to
see and to hear Signor Carlos Alonso de la Ventoleria for the first time, with-
out having such a natural longing. I will paint him to the life. In the first
place, he was originally a player. He left the stage through caprice, and has
since repented in sober sadness of the step. Did you notice his dark hair?
Every thread of it is pencilled, as well as his eyebrows and his whiskers. He
was born in the reign of Saturn’s father, in the age before the golden ; but as
there were no parish registers at that time, he avails himself of the primitive
barbarism, and dates at least twenty centuries below the true epoch. Moreover,
his self-sufficiency keeps pace with his antiquity. He passed the olympiads of
his youth in the grossest ignorance ; but taking a fancy to become learned about
the Christian era, he engaged a private tutor, who taught him to spell in Greek
and Latin. Nay, more, he knows by heart an infinite number of good stories,
which he has given so often as genuine, that he actually begins to believe them
himself. They are eternally pressed into the service, and it may truly be said
that his wit shines at the expense of his memory. He is thought to be a great
actor. I am willing to believe it implicitly, but I must own he is not to my
taste. He declaims here sometimes ; and I have observed, among other defects,
108 GIL BLAS.
an affectation in his delivery, with a tremulousness of voice bordering on the
- antiquated and ridiculous. C
Such was the portrait drawn by my abigail of this honorary spouter ; and.
never was mortal of a more stately carriage. He prided himself too on being
an agreeable companion. He never was at a loss 2s a commodity of trite re-
marks, which he delivered with an air of authority. On the other hand, the
Thespian fraternity were not much addicted to silence. They began canvassing
their absent colleagues in a manner little consistent with charity, it must be
owned ; but this is a failing pardonable in players as well as in authors. The
fire grew brisk and the satire personal. You have not heard, ladies, said Ro-
simiro, a new stroke of our dear brother Cesarino. This very morning he
bought silk stockings, ribbons, and laces, and sent them to rehearsal by a
little page, as a present from a countess. What a knavish trick! said Signor
de la Ventoleria, with a smile made up of fatuity and conceit. In my time there
was more honesty, we never thought of descending to such impositions. To be
sure, women of fashion were tender of our inventive faculties, nor did they
leave such purchases to be made out of our own pockets; it was their whim.
By the honour of our house, said Ricardo, in the same strain, that whim of theirs
is lasting, and if it were allowable to kiss and tell............ But one must be secret
on these occasions, above all when persons of a certain rank are concerned.
Gentlemen, interrupted Florimonde, a truce, if you please, with your con-
quests and successes, they are known over the whole earth. Apropos of Is-
mene. It is said that themobleman who has fooled away so much money upon
her, has at length recovered his senses. Yes, indeed, exclaimed Constance ;
and I can tell you besides that she has lost, by the same stroke, a snug little
hero of the counting-house, whose ruin would otherwise have been signed and
sealed. I have the thing from the first hand. Her Mercury made an unfor-
tunate mistake, for he carried a tender invitation to each, and delivered them
wrong. These were great losses, my darling, quoth Florimonde. Oh! as for
that of the lord, replied Constance, it is a very trifling matter. The man of
blood had almost run through his estate, but the little fellow with the pen be-
hind his ear was but just coming into play. He had never been fleeced before,
it is a pity he should have escaped so easily.
Such was the tenor of the conversation before dinner, and it was not much
mended in its morality at table. As I should never have done with the recital
of all their ribaldry and nonsense, the reader will excuse the omission, and pass
on to the entrance of a poor devil, yclept an author, who called just before the
cloth was taken away.
Our little footboy came and said to my mistress in an audible voice—
Madam, a man in a dirty shirt, splashed up to his middle, with very much the
look of a poet, saving your presence, wants to speak to you. Let him walk
up, answered Arsenia. Keep your seats, gentlemen, it is only an author. To
be sure so it was, one whose tragedy had been accepted, and he was bringing
my mistress her part. His name was Pedro de Moya, On coming into the
room he made five or six low bows to the company, who neither rose nor took
the least notice of him. Arsenia just returned his superabundant civilities with
a slight inclination of the head. He came forward with tremor and embarrass-
ment. He dropped his gloves and let his hat fall. He ventured to pick them
up again, then advanced towards my mistress, and presenting to her a paper
with more ceremony than a defendant an affidavit to the judge of the court—
Madam, said he, have the goodness to receive under your protection the part
I take the liberty of offering you. She stretched out her hand for it with cold
and contemptuous indifference ; nor did she condescend even to notice the
compliment by a look.
AN AUTHOR'S LIFE. 109
But our author was not disheartened. Seizing this opportunity to distribute
the cast, he gave one character to Rosimiro and another to Florimonde, who
treated him just as genteelly as Arsenia had done. On the contrary, the low
comedian, a very pleasant fellow, as those gentlemen for the most part affect
to be, insulted him with the most cutting sarcasms. Pedro de Moya was not
made of stone. Yet he dared not take up the aggressor, lest his piece should
suffer for it. He withdrew without saying a word, but stung to the quick, as
it seemed to me, by his reception. He could not fail, in the transports of his
anger, mentally to apostrophize the players as they deserved : and the players,
when he was gone, began to talk of authors in return with infinite deference
and kindness, It should seem, said Florimonde, as if Signor de Moya did not
go away very well pleased.
Well! madam, cried Rosimiro, and why should you trouble yourself about
that? Are we to study the feelings of authors? If we were to admit them
upon equal terms, it would only be the way to spoil them. I know that con-
. temptible squad ; I know them of old: they would soon forget their distance.
There is no dealing with them but as slaves ; and as for tiring their patience,
never fear that. Though they may take themselves off in a pet sometimes, the
itch of writing brings them back again ; and they are raised to the third heaven,
if we will but condescend to support their pieces. You are right, said Arsenia ;
we never lose an author till we have made his fortune. When that is done, as
soon as we have provided for the ungrateful devils, they get to be in good case,
and then they run restive. Luckily the manager does not break his heart after
them, and one is just as good as another to the public,
These liberal and sagacious remarks met with their full share of approbation.
It was carried unanimously that authors, though treated rather too scurvily be-
hind the scenes, were on the whole the obliged persons. These fretters of an
hour upon the stage ranked the inhabitant of Parnassus below themselves ; and
malice could not degrade him lower.
Cu. XII.—Gi/ Blas acquires a relish for the theatre, and takes a full swing of
its pleasures, but soon becomes disgusted,
THE party sat at table till it was time to go to the theatre. I went after them,
and saw the play again that evening. I took such delight in it, that I was for
attending every day. I never missed, and by degrees got accustomed to the
actors. Such is the force of habit. I was particularly delighted with those who
were most artificial and unnatural ; nor was I singular in my taste.
The beauties of composition affected me much on the same principle as the
excellence of representation. ‘There were some pieces with which I was en-
raptured, I liked, among others, those which brought all the cardinals or the
twelve peers of France upon the stage. I got hold of striking passages in these
incomparable performances. I recollect that in two days I learnt by heart a
whole play, called, Zhe Queen of Flowers. The Rose, who was the queen,
had the Violet for her maid of honour, and the Jessamin for her prime minister.
I could conceive nothing more elegant or refined: such productions seemed to
be the triumph of our Spanish wit and invention.
I was not content to store my memory and discipline my mind with the
choicest selections from these dramatic masterpieces : but I was bent on polish-
ing my taste to the highest perfection. To secure this grand object, I listened
with greedy ears to every word which fell from the lips of the players. If they
commended a piece, I was ravished by it: but pt! they pronounced it
bad? why, then I maintained that it was infernal stuff. I conceived that they
must determine the merits of a play, as a jeweller the water of a diamond,
110 GIL BLAS.
And yet the tragedy by Pedro de Moya was eminently successful, though they
had predicted its entire miscarriage. This, however, was no disparagement of
their critical skill in my estimation ; and I had rather believe the audience to
be divested of common sense, than doubt the infallibility of the company. But
they assured me, on all hands, that their judgments were usually confirmed by
the rule of contraries. It seemed to be a maxim with them, to set their faces
point blank against the taste of the public ; and as a proof of this, there were
a thousand cases in point of unexpected succcesses and failures, All these tes-
timonies were scarcely sufficient to undeceive me.
I shall never forget what happened one day at the first representation of a
new comedy. The performers had pronounced it uninteresting and tedious ;
they had even prophesied that it would not be heard to the end. Under this
impression, they got through the first act, which was loudly applauded. This
was very astonishing! They played the second act ; the audience liked it still
better than the first. The actors were confounded. What the devil, said
Rosimiro, this comedy succeeds! At last they went on in the third act, which
rose as a third act ought to rise. I am quite thrown upon my back, said Ri-
cardo; we thought this piece would not be relished ; and all the world are
mad after it. Gentlemen, said one of the players archly, it is because we hap-
pened accidentally to overlook all the wit.
From this time I held my opinion no longer of the players as competent
judges, and began to appreciate their merit more truly than they had estimated
that of the authors. All the lampoons which were current about them were.
fully justified. The actors and actresses ran riot on the applauses of the town,
and stood so high in their own conceit, as to think that they conferred a favour
by appearing on the boards, I was shocked at their public misconduct ; but
unfortunately reconciled myself too easily to their private manners, and pl
into debauchery. How could I do gtherwise? Every word they uttered was
poison in the ears of youth, and every scene that was presented, an alluring
picture of corruption. Had I been a stranger to what passed with Casilda, with
Constance, and with the other actresses, Arsenia’s house alone would have been
sufficient for my ruin. Besides the old noblemen of whom I have spoken,
there came thither young debauchees of fashion, who forestalled their inherit-
ances by the disinterested mediation of money-lenders : and sometimes we had
officers under government, who were so far from receiving fees, as at their
public boards, that they paid most exorbitant ones for the privilege of mixing
with such worshipful society.
Florimonde, who lived at next door, dined and supped with Arsenia every
day. Their long intimacy surprised every one. Coquets were not thought
usually to maintain so good an understanding with each other. It was con-
cluded that they would quarrel, sooner or later, about some paramour ; but
such reasoners could not see into the hearts of these exemplary friends. They
were united in the bonds of indissoluble love. Instead of harbouring jealousy,
like other women, they had everything in common. They had rather divide
the plunder of mankind, than childishly fall out, and contend for trumpery, as
hearts and affections.
Laura, after the example of these two illustrious partners, turned the fresh
season of youth to the best advantage. She had told me that I should see
strange doings. And yet I did not take up the jealous part. I had promised
to adopt the principles of the company on that score. For some days I kept
my thoughts to myself. I only just took the liberty of asking her the names of
the men whom she favoured with her private ear. She always told me that
they were uncles or cousins. From what a prolific family was she sprung!
King Priam had no luck in propagation, compared with her ancestors, Nor
*
GIL BLAS QUITS ARSENTA’S SERVICE. — iit
did this precious abigail confine herself to her uncles and cousins: she went
now and then to lay a trap for unwary aliens, and personate the widow of
quality under the auspices of the discreet old dowager above mentioned. In
short Laura, to hit off her character exactly, was just as young, just as pretty,
and just as loose as her mistress, who had no other advantage over her than
that of figuring in a more public capacity.
I was borne down by the torrent for three weeks, and ran the career of dis-
sipation in my turn. But I must at the same time say for myself, that in th
midst of pleasure I frequently felt the still small voice of conscience, arising
from the impression of a serious education, which mixed gall in the Circean
cup. Riot could not altogether get the better of remorse: on the contrary, the
pangs of the last grew keener with the more shameful indulgence of the first ;
and, by a happy effect of my temperament, the disorders of a theatrical life
began to make me shudder. Ah! wretch, said I to myself, is it thus that you
make good the hopes of your family? Is it not enough to have thwarted their
pious intentions, by not following your destined course of life as an instructor
of youth? Need your condition of a servant hinder you from living decently
and soberly? Are such monsters of iniquity fit companions for you? Envy,
hatred, and avarice are predominant here; intemperance and idleness have
purchased the fee-simple there: the pride of some is aggravated into the most
barefaced impudence, and modesty is turned out of doors, by the common con-
sent of all. The business is settled: I will not live any longer with the seven
deadly sins, ;
BOOK THE FOURTH.
Cu. 1.—Gil Blas not being able to reconcile himself to the morals of the actresses,
guits Arsenia, and gets into a more reputable service.
A suURVIVING spark of honour and of religion, in the midst of so general de-
pravity, made me resolve not only to leave Arsenia, but even to abjure all com-
merce with Laura, whom yet I could not cease to love, though I was well
aware of her daily inconstancy. Happy the man who can thus profit by those
appeals, which occasionally interrupt the headlong course of his pleasures!
One fine morning, I made up my bundle; and, without reckoning with Arsenia,
who indeed owed me next to nothing, without taking leave of my dear Laura, I
burst from that mansion, which smelt of brimstone and fire reserved for the
wicked. I had no sooner taken so virtuous a step, than providence interfered
in my behalf. I met the steward of my late master, Don Matthias, and greeted
him : he knew me again at once, and stopped to inquire where I lived. I an-
swered that I had just left my place; that after staying near a month with
Arsenia, whose manners did not at all suit me, I was come away by a sudden
impulse of virtue, to save my innocence. ‘The steward, just as if he had been
himself of a religious cast, commended my scruples, and offered me a place
much to my advantage, since I was so chaste and honest a youth. He kept his
word, and introduced me on that very day into the family of Don Vincent de
Gusman, with whose agent he was acquainted.
I could not have got into a better service; nor did I repent in the sequel of
having accepted the situation. Don Vincent was a very rich old nobleman,
who had lived many years unincumbered with lawsuits or with a wife. The
physicians had removed the last plague out of the way, in their attempts to rid
112 GIL BLAS.
her of a cough, which might have lasted a great while longer, if the remedies
had not been more fatal than the disease. Far from thinking of the holy state
a second time, he we himself up entirely to the education of his only daughter
Aurora, who was then entering her twenty-sixth year, and might pass for an
accomplished person. With beauty above the common, she had an excellent
and highly cultivated understanding. Her father was a poor creature as to in-
tellect ; but he possessed the happy talent of looking well after his affairs. One
fault he had, of a kind excusable in old men: he was an incessant talker, espe-
cially about war and fighting. If that string was unfortunately touched in his
presence, ina moment -he blew his heroic trumpet, and his hearers might think
themselves lucky if they compounded for a gazette extraordinary of two sieges
and three battles. As he had spent two-thirds of his life in the service, his
memory was an inexhaustible depét of various facts; but the patience of the
listeners did not always keep pace with the perseverance of the relater. The
stories, sufficiently prolix in themselves, were still further spun out by stutter-
ing ; so that the manner was still less happy than the matter. In all other re-
spects, I never met with a nobleman of a more amiable character: his temper
was even; he was neither obstinate nor capricious; the general alternative of
men in the higher ranks of life. Though a good economist, he lived like a
gentleman. His establishment was composed of several men servants, and
three women in waiting on Aurora. I soon discovered that the steward of Don
Matthias had procured me a_ good post, and my only anxiety was to establish
myself firmly in it. I took all possible pains to feel the ground under my feet,
and to study the characters of the whole household : then regulating my con-
duct by my discoveries, I was not long in ingratiating myself with my master
and all the servants.
I had been with Don Vincent above a month, when it struck me that his
daughter was very particular in her notice of me above all the servants in the
family. Whenever her eyes happened accidentally to meet mine, they seemed
to be suffused with a certain partial complacency, which did not enter into her
silent communications with the vulgar. Had it not been for my haunts among
the coxcombs of the theatrical tribe and their hangers-on, it would never have
entered into my head that Aurora should throw away a thought on me: but my
brain had been a little turned among those gentry, from whose libertine sus-
picions ladies of the noblest birth are not always held sacred. If, said I, those
chronicles of the age are to be believed, fancy and high blood lead women of
quality a dance, in which they sometimes join hands with unequal partners :
how do I know but my young mistress may caper to a tune of my piping? But
no: it cannot be so, neither. This is not one of your Messalinas, who, derogat-
ing from the loftiness of ancestry, unworthily let ita their regards to the dust,
and sully their pure honour without a blush: but rather one of those virtuously
apprehensive, yet tender-hearted girls, who encircle their softness within the in-
surmountable pale of delicacy; yet think it no tampering with chastity, to in-
spire and cherish a sentimental flame, interesting to the heart without being
dangerous to the morals,
Such were my ideas of my mistress, without knowing exactly whether the
were right or wrong. And yet when we met, she was continually caught wit
a smile of satisfaction on her countenance. Without passing for a fop, a man
might give in to such flattering appearances ; and a philosophical apathy was not
to be expected from me. I conceived Aurora to have been deeply smitten with
my irresistible attractions ; and looked on myself henceforth in the light of a
favoured attendant, whose servitude was to be sweetened by the balmy infusion
of love. To appear in some measure less unworthy of the blessings, which
propitious fortune had kept in store for me, I began to take better care of my
GIL BLASS PLEASING ANTICIPA TIONS. 113
erson than I had done heretofore. I laid out my slender stock of money in
inen, pomatums, and essences. The first thing in the morning was to prank up
and perfume myself, so as not to be in an undress in case of being sent for into
the presence of my mistress. With these attentions to personal elegance and
other dexterous strokes in the art of pleasing, I flattered myself that the moment
of my bliss was not very distant.
Among Aarora’s women there was one who went by the name of Ortiz. This
was an old dowager, who had been a fixture in Don Vincent’s family for more
than twenty years. She had been about his daughter from her childhood, and
still held the office of duenna; but she no longer performed the invidious part
of the duty. On the contrary, instead of blazoning, as formerly, Aurora’s little
indiscretions, her skill was now employed in throwing them into shade. One
evening, Dame Ortiz, having watched her opportunity of speaking to me with-
out observation, said in a low voice, that if I was close and trustworthy, I had
only to be in the garden at midnight, when a scene would be laid open in which
I should not be sorry to beanactor. I answered the duenna, pressing her hand
significantly, that I would not fail, and we parted in a hurry for fear of a sur-
prise. How the hours lagged from this moment till supper-time, though we
supped very early! Then again, from supper to my master’s bed-time! It
should seem as if the march of the whole family was timed to a /azgo move-
ment. By way of helping forward the fidgets, when Don Vincent withdrew to
his chamber, the army was put on the war establishment, and we were obliged
to fight the campaigns in Portugal over again, though my ears had not re-
covered from the din of the last cannonade. But a favour, from which I had
hitherto made my escape, was reserved for this eventful evening. He repeated
the army list from beginning to end, with copious digressions on the exploits of
those officers who had distinguished themselves in his time. Oh my poor tym-
panum! It was almost cracked before we got to the end. Time, however,
will wear out even an old man’s story, and he went to bed. I immediately
went to my own little chamber, whence there was a way into the garden by a
private staircase. I depended on my purchase of perfumery for overcoming the
effluvia of the day’s drudgery, and put on a clean shirt highly scented. When
every invention had been pressed into the service to render my person worthy of
its destiny, and cherish the fondness of my mistress, I went to the appointment.
Ortiz was not there. I concluded that, tired of waiting for me, she had
gone back to her chamber, and that the happy moment of philandering
was over. [I laid all the blame on Don Vincent ; but just as I was singing Te
Deum backwards for his campaigns, I heard the clock strike ten. ‘To be sure
it must be wrong! It could not be less than one o’clock. Yet I was so egre-
giously out in my reckoning, that full a quarter of an hour afterwards, I counted
ten upon my fingers by the clock at next door. Vastly well, thought I to my-
self, I have only two complete hours to ventilate my passion here a/ fresco.
At least they shall not complain of me for want of punctuality. What shall I
do with myself till twelve? Suppose we take a turn about this garden and
settle our cues in the delicious drama just going to be brought on the stage ;
it is my first appearance in so principal a character. I am not yet sufficiently
well read in the crotchets of your quality dames. I know how to tickle a girl
in a stuff gown, or an actress: You swagger up to them with an easy, impudent
assurance, and pop the question without making any bones of it. But one
must take a female of condition on a very different tack. It seems to me, that
in this case the happy swain must be well bred, attentive, tender, respectful,
without degenerating into bashfulness. Instead of taking his happiness by
storm, he must plant his amorous desires in ambuscade, and wait till the garni-
son is asleep, and the outworks defenceless.
114 GIL BLAS.
Thus it was that I argued, and such were the preconcerted plans of my
campaign with Aurora. After a few tedious minutes, according to my calculation,
I was to experience the ecstasy of finding myself at the feet of that lovely crea-
ture, and pouring forth a torrent of impassioned nonsense. I scraped together
in my memory all the pew in our stock-plays, which were most successful
with the audience, and might best set off my pretensions to spirit and gallantry.
I trusted to my own adroitness for the application, and hoped, after the exam-
ple of some players in the list of my acquaintance, bringing only a stock of
memory into the trade, to deal upon credit for my wit. While my imagination
was engrossed by these thoughts, which kept my impatience at bay much more
successfully than the commentaries of my modern Ceesar, I heard the clock
strike .eleven. This was some encouragement, and I fell back to my medita-
tions, sometimes sauntering carelessly about, and sometimes throwing myself
at my length on the turf, in a bower at the bottom of the garden. At length
it struck twelve, the long-expected hour, big with my high destiny. Some
seconds after, Ortiz, as ae wince’ as myself though less impatient, made her
appearance. Signor Gil Blas, said she, accosting me, how long have you been
here? Two hours, answered I, Indeed! Truly, replied she, laughing, you are
very exact; there is a pleasure in making nocturnal assignations with you.
Yet you may assure yourself, continued she more gravely, that you cannot pay
too dear for such good fortune as that of which I am the messenger. My mis-
tress wants to have some private talk with you. I shall not anticipate what
may be the subject, that is a secret which you must learn from no lips but her
own. Follow me; I will show you into her chamber. With these words the
duenna took me by the hand, and led me mysteriously into her lady’s apart-
ment through a little door, of which she had the key.
Cu. Il.—Aurora’s reception of Gil Blas. Their conversation.
I FOUND Aurora in an undress. I saluted her in the most respectful manner,
and threw as much elegance into my attitude as I had to throw. She received
me with the most winning affability, made me sit down by her against all my
remonstrances, and told her ambassadress to go into another room. After this
opening, which seemed highly encouraging to my cause, she entered upon the
business. Gil Blas, said she, you must have perceived how favourably I have
regarded and distinguished you from all the rest of my father’s sérvahts; and
though my looks:had not betrayed my partial dispositions towards you, my
proceeding of this night would leave you no room to doubt them.
I did not give her time to say a word more. It struck me, that as a man of
feeling, I ought to spare her trembling diffidence the cruel necessity of explain-
ing her sentiments in more direct terms. I rose from my chair in a transport,
and, throwing myself at Aurora’s feet, like a tragedy hero of the Grecian stage
when he supplicates the heroine ‘*by her knees,” exclaimed in a declamatory
tone—Ah! Madam, could it be possible that Gil Blas, hitherto the whirligig
of fortune and football of embattled nature, should have called down upon
his head the exquisite felicity of inspiring sentiments. ... . . - Do not speak so
loud, interrupted my mistress with a laugh of mingled apprehension and ridicule,
you will wake my women who sleep in the adjoining chamber. Get up, take
your seat, and hear me out without putting ina word. Yes, Gil Blas, pursued
she, resuming her gravity, you have my best wishes; and to shew you how deep
you are in my good graces, I will confide to you a secret on which depends
the repose of my life. I am in love with a young gentleman, possessing every
charm of person and face, and noble by birth. His name is Don Lewis
Pacheco, I have seen him occasionally in the public walks and at the theatre,
GIL BLAS EXECUTES A COMMISSION FOR AURORA, 115
but I have never conversed with him. I do not even know what his private
character may be, or what bad qualities he may have. It is on this subject
that I wish to be informed. I stand in need of a person to inquire diligently
into his morals, and give me a true and particular account. I make choice of
you. Surely I run no risk in entrusting you with this commission. I hope
that you will acquit yourself with dexterity and prudence, and that I shall never
repent of giving you my confidence.
My mistress concluded thus, and waited for my answer to her proposal. I
had been disconcerted in the first instance at so disagreeable a mistake ; but I
soon recovered my scattered senses, and surmounting the confusion which rash-
ness always occasions when it is unlucky, I exposed to sale such a cargo of zeal.
for the lady’s interests, I devoted myself with so martyr-like an enthusiasm to
her service, that if she did not absolutely forget my silly vanity in the thought
of having pleased her, at least she had reason to believe that I knew how to
make amends for a piece of folly. I asked only two days to bring hera satisfac-
tory account of Don Lewis. After which Dame Ortiz, answering the bell, shewed
me the way back into the garden, and said, on taking leave, Good-night, Gil
Blas. I need not caution you to be in time at the next appointment. I have
sufficient experience of your punctuality on these occasions.
I returned to my chamber, not without some little mortification at finding my
voluptuous anticipations all divested of even their ideal sweetness. I was never-
theless sufficiently in my senses to reflect soberly that it was more in my element
to be the trusty scout of my mistress than her lover. I even thought that this
adventure might lead to something further ; that the middle men in the trade of
love usually pocket a tolerable per centage ; and went to bed with the resolu-
tion of doing whatever Aurora required of me. For this purpose I went abroad
the next morning. The residence of so distinguished a personage as Don Lewis
was not difficult to find out. I made my enquiries about him in the neighbour-
hood, but the people who came in my way could not satisfy my curiosity to the
full, so that it was necessary to resume my search diligently on the following
day. Iwas in better luck. I met a lad of my acquaintance by chance in the
street, we stopped for a little gossip. ‘There passed by in the very nick one of
his friends, who came up and told him that he was just turned away from the
family of Don Joseph Pacheco, Don Lewis’s father, about a paltry remnant of
wine, which he had been accused of drinking. I would not lose so fair an oc-
casion of léarnihg all I wanted to know, and plied my questions so successfully
as to go home with much self-complacency, at my punctual performance of my
engagements with my mistress. It was on the coming night that I was to see
her again at the same hour and in the same manner as the first time. I was
not in such a confounded hurry this evening. Far from writhing with impa-
tience under the prolixity of my old commander, I led him on to the charge. I
waited for midnight with the greatest indifference in the world, and it was not
till all the clocks within ear-shot had struck that I crept down into the garden,
without any nonsense of pomatum and perfumery. That foppery was com-
pletely cured.
At the place of meeting I found the very faithful duenna, who sneeringly re-
proached me with a defalcation in my zeal. I made herno answer, but suffered
myself to be conducted into Aurora’s chamber. She asked me, as soon as I
made my appearance, whether I had gained any intelligence of Don Lewis.
Yes, madam, said I, and you shall have the sum total in two words. I must
first tell you, that he will soon set out for Salamanca, to finish his studies. The
young gentleman is brim full of honour and probity. As for valour, he cannot
be deficient there, since he is a man of birth and a Castilian. Besides this, he
has an infinite deal of wit, and is very agreeable in his manners ; but there is
116 GIL BLAS.
one thing which can scarcely be to your liking. Heis pretty much in the fashion
of our young nobility here at court—exemplarily catholic in his devotions to the
fair. ave you not heard that at his age he has already been tenant at will to
two actresses ? What is it you tell me? 5 ge Aurora. What shocking con-
duct! But do you know for certain, Gil Blas, that he leads so dissolute a life?
Oh! there is no doubt of it, madam, rejoined I. A servant, turned off this
morning, told me so, and servants are very plain dealers when the failings
of their masters are the topic. Besides, he keeps company with Don Alexo
Segiar, Don Antonio Centellés, and Don Fernando de Gamboa ; that single
circumstance proves his libertinism with all the force of demonstration. It is
enough, Gil Blas, said my mistress with a sigh ; on your report I am determined
to struggle with my unworthy passion. Though it has already struck deep
’ root in my heart, I do not despair of tearing it forcibly from its bed. Go,
added she, putting into my hands a small purse, none of the lightest, take this
for your pains. Beware of betraying my secret. Consider it as entrusted to
your silence.
I assured my mistress that she might be perfectly easy on that score, for I
was the Harpocrates of confidential servants. After this compliment to mysel§
I withdrew with no small eagerness to investigate the contents of the purse.
There were twenty pistoles. It struck me all at once that Aurora would surely
have given me more had I been the bearer of pleasant tidings, since she paid so
a pone a for a blank in the lottery. I was sorry not to have adopted the
policy of the pleaders in the courts, who sometimes paint the cheek of truth
when her natural complexion is inclined to be cadaverous. It was a pity to
have stifled an amour in the birth which might in its growth have been so pro-
fitable. Yet I had the comfort of finding myself reimbursed the expense so un-
seasonably incurred in perfumery and washes.
Cu. IIl.—A great change at Don Vincent’s. Aurora’s strange resolution.
IT happened soon after this adventure that Signor Don Vincent fell sick. In-
dependent of his very advanced age, the symptoms of his disorder appeared in
so formidable a shape that a fatal termination was but too probable. From the
beginning of his illness he was attended by two of the most eminent physicians
in Madrid. One was Doctor Andros, and the other Doctor Oquetos. Th
considered the case with due solemnity ; and both agreed, after a strict investi-
gation, that the humours were in a state of mutiny, but this was the only thing
about which they did agree. The proper practice, said Andros, is to purge the
humours, though raw, with all possible expedition, while they are in a violent
agitation of flux and reflux, for fear of their fixing upon some noble part.
Oquetos maintained, on the contrary, that we must wait till the humours were
ripened before it would be safe to go upon purgatives. But your method, re-
plied the first speaker, is directly in the teeth of the rules laid down by the
prince of medicine. Hippocrates recommends purging in the most burning
fever from the very first attack, and says in plain terms that no time is to be
lost in purging when the humours are in opyacpog, that is to say, in a state of
fermentation. Ay! there is your mistake, replied Oquetos. Hippocrates by
the word opyacpog does not mean the fermentation, he means rather the con-
coction of the humours,
Thereupon our doctors got heated. One quotes the Greek text, and cites all
the authors who have explained it in his sense; the other, trusting to a Latin
translation, takes up the controversy in a still more positive tone. Which of
the two to believe? Don Vincent was not the man to decide that question. In
the mean time, finding himself obliged to choose, he gave his confidence to the
AURORA'S STRANGE RESOLUTION. try
party. who had dispatched the greatest number of patients—I mean the elder of
the two. Andros, the-younger, immediately withdrew, not without flinging out
a few satirical taunts at his senioron the opyacpoc. Here then was Oquetos
triumphant. As he was a professor of the Sangrado school, he began by
bleeding copiously, waiting till the humours were ripened before he went upon
purgatives, But death, fearing, no doubt, lest this reserve of purgatives should
turn the fortunes of the day, got the start of the concoction, and secured his
peor over my master by a coup-de-main. Such was the final close of Signor
Don Vincent, who had lost his life because his physician did not know Greek.
Aurora having buried her father with a pomp suited to the dignity of his birth,
administered to his effects. Having the whole arrangement of everything in her
own breast, she discharged some of the servants with rewards proportioned to
their services, and soon retired to her castle on the Tagus, between Sacedon and
Buendia. I was among the number of those whom she kept, and who made
part of her country establishment. I had even the good fortune to become a
principal agent in the plot. In spite of my faithful report on the subject of Don
Lewis, she still harboured a partiality for that bewitching young fellow ; or
rather, for want of spirit to combat her passion in the first instance, she surren-
dered at discretion. There was no longer any need of taking precautions to
speak with me in private. Gil Blas, said she with a sigh, I can never forget
Don Lewis. Let me make what effort I will to banish him from my thoughts,
he is present to them without intermission, not as you have described him,
lunged in every variety of licentious riot, but just what my fancy would paint
te beg loving, constant. She betrayed considerable emotion in uttering
these words, and could not help shedding tears. My fountains were very near
playing from mere sympathy. There was no better way of paying my court
than by appearing sensibly touched at her distress. My friend, continued she,
after having wiped her lovely eyes, your nature is evidently cast ina benevolent
mould ; and Iam so well satisfied with your zeal that it shall not go unre-
warded, Yourassistance, my dear Gil Blas, is more necessary to me than ever.
You must be made acquainted with a plan which engrosses all my thoughts,
though it will appear strangely eccentric. You are to know that I mean to set
out for Salamanca as soon as possible. There my design is to assume the dis-
guise of a fashionable young fellow, and to make acquaintance with Pacheco
under the name of Don Felix. I shall endeavour to gain his confidence and
friendship, and lead the conversation incidentally to the subject of Aurora de
Guzman, for whose cousin I shall pass. He may perhaps express a wish to see
her, and there is the point on which I expect the interest toturn. We will have
two apartments in Salamanca. In oneI shall be Don Felix, in the other,
Aurora ; and I flatter myself that by presenting my person before Don Lewis,
sometimes under the semblance of a man, sometimes in all the natural and ar-
tificial attractions of my own sex, I may bring him by little and little to the
proposed end of my stratagem, I am perfectly aware that my project is ex-
travagant in the highest degree, but my passion drives me headlong ; and the
innocence of my intentions renders me insensible to all compunctious feelings of
virgin apprehension respecting so hazardous a step.
I was exactly in the same mind with Aurora respecting the extravagance of
her scheme. Yet, unseasonable as it might seem to reflecting persons like my-
self, there was no occasion for me to play the schoolmaster. én the contrary,
I began to practise all the arts of a thorough-bred special pleader, and under-
took to magnify this hair-brained pursuit into a piece of incomparable wit and
spirit, without the least tincture of imprudence. This was highly gratifying to
my mistress. Lovers like to have their rampant fancies tickled. We no longer
considered this rash enterprise in any other light than as a play, of which the
118 GIL BLAS.
characters were to be properly cast, and the business dramatically arranged.
The actors were chosen out of our own domestic establishment, and the parts
distributed without secret jealousy or open rupture, but then we were not players
by profession. It was determined that Dame Ortiz should personate Aurora’s
aunt, under the name of Donna Kimena de Guzman, with a valet and waiting-
maid by way of attendance ; and that Aurora, with the swashing outside of a
gay spark, was to take me for her valet-de-chambre, with one of her women
disguised as a page, to be more immediately about her person. The drama thus
filled up we returned to Madrid, where we understood Don Lewis still to be,
though it was not likely to be long till his departure for Salamanca. We got
up with all possible haste the dresses and decorations of our wild comedy.
When they were in complete order, my mistress had them packed up carefully,
that they might come out in all their gloss and newness on the rising of the
curtain. Then, leaving the care of her family to her steward, she began her
journey in a coach drawn by four mules, and travelled towards the kingdom of
Leon, with those of her household who had some part to play in the piece.
We had already crossed Old Castille, when the axletree of the coach gave
way. The accident happened between Avila and Villaflor, at the distance of
three or four hundred yards from a castle near the foot of a mountain. Night
was coming on, and the measure of our troubles seemed to be heaped up and
overflowing. But there passed accidentally by us a countryman, by whose as-
sistance we were relieved from our difficulties. He acquainted us that the castle
yonder belonged to Donna Elvira, widow of Don Pedro de Penarés ; at the
same time giving us so favourable a character of that lady, that my mistress sent
me to the castle with a request of a night’s lodging. Elvira did not disgrace
the good word of the countryman. She received me with an air of hospitality,
and returned such an answer to my compliment as I wished to carry back. We
all went to the castle, whither the mules dragged the carriage with considerable
difficulty. At the gate we met the widow of Don Pedro, who came out to
meet my mistress, I shall pass over in silence the reciprocal civilities which
were exchanged on this occasion, in compliance with the usage of the polite
world. I shall only say that Elvira was a lady rather advanced in years, but
remarkably well bred, with an address superior to that of most women in doing
the honours of her house. She led Aurora into a sumptuous apartment, where,
leaving her to rest herself for a short time, she looked after everything herself,
and left nothing undone which could in the least contribute to our comfort.
Afterwards, when supper was ready, she ordered it to be served up in Aurora’s
chamber, where they sat down to table together. Don Pedro’s widow was not
of a description to cast a slur on her own hospitalities, by assuming an air of
abstraction or sullenness. Her temper was gay, and her conversation lively
without levity ; for her ideas were dignified, and her expressions select. No-
thing could exceed her wit, accompanied by a peculiarly fine turn of thought.
Aurora appeared as much to be delighted as myself. They became sworn
friends, and mutually engaged in a regular correspondence, As our carriage
could not be repaired till the following day, and we should have encountered
some perils by setting out late at night, it was determined that we should take
up our abode at the castle till the anus was made good. All the arrange-
ments were in the first style of elegance, and our lodgings were correspondent to
the magnificence of the establishment in other respects.
The day after, my mistress discovered new charms in Elvira’s conversation.
They dined in a large hall, where there were several pictures. One among the
rest was distinguished for its admirable execution, but the subject was highly
tragic. A principal figure was a man of superior mien, lying lifeless on his
back, and bathed in his own blood ; yet in the very embraces of death he wore
THE FATAL MARRIAGE. 119
a menacing aspect. At a little distance from him you might see a young lady
in a different posture, though stretched likewise on the ground. She had a
sword plunged in her bosom, and was giving up her last sighs, at the same time
casting her dying glances at a young man who seemed to suffer a mortal pang
at losing her. ‘The painter had besides charged his picture with a figure which
did not escape my notice. It was an old man of a venerable physiognomy,
sensibly touched with the objects which struck his sight, and equally alive with
the young man to the impressions of the melancholy scene. It might be said
that these images of blood and desolation affected both the spectators with the
same astonishment and grief, but that the outward demonstrations of their in-
ward sentiments were different. The old man, sunk in a profound melancholy,
looked as if he was bowed down to the ground ; while the youth mingled some-
thing like the extravagance of despair with the tears of affliction. All these
circumstances were depicted with touches so characteristic and affecting, that
we could not take our eyes off the performance. My mistress desired to know
the subject of the piece. Madam, said Elvira, it is a faithful delineation of the
misfortunes sustained by my family. This answer excited Aurora’s curiosity ;
and she testified so strong a desire to learn the particulars, that the widow of
Don Pedro could do no otherwise than promise her the satisfaction she desired.
This promise, made before Ortiz, her two fellow-servants, and myself, rooted
us to the spot on which we were listening to their former conversation. My
mistress would have sent us away ; but Elvira, who saw plainly that we were
dying with eagerness to be present at the explanation of the picture, had the
goodness to desire us to stay, alleging at the same time that the story she had
to relate was not of a nature to enjoin secrecy. After a moment’s recaHection,
she began her recital to the following effect :-—
~~
\
Cu. IV.— The Fatal Marriage; a Novel. ~
ROGER, king of Sicily, had a brother and a sister. His brother, by name
Mainfroi, rebelled against him, and kindled a war in the kingdom, bloody in its
immediate effects, and portentous in its future consequences. But it was his
fate to lose two battles, and to fall into the king’s hands. The punishment of
his revolt extended no further than the loss of liberty. This act of clemency
served only to make Roger pass for a barbarian in the estimation of the disaf-
fected party among his subjects. They contended that he had saved his brother’s
life only to wreak his vengeance on him by tortures the more merciless because
rotracted. People in general, on better grounds, transferred the blame of
ainfroi’s harsh treatment while in prison to his sister Matilda. That princess
had, in fact, cherished a long-rooted hatred against this prince, and was inde-
fatigable in her persecutions during his whole life. She died in a very short
time after him, and her premature fate was considered as the retribution of a
just providence for her disregard of those sentiments implanted by nature for the
best purposes.
Mainfroi left behind him two sons. They were yet in their childhood. Roger
had a kind of lurking desire to get rid of them, under the apprehension lest,
when arrived at a more advanced age, the wish of avenging their father might
hurry them to the revival of a faction which was not so entirely overthrown as
to be incapable of originating new intrigues in the state. He communicated his
purpose to the senator Leontio Siffredi, his minister, who diverted him from his
bloody thoughts by undertaking the education of Prince Enriquez, the eldest,
and recommending the care of the younger, by name Don Pedro, to the con-
stable of Sicily, as a trusty counsellor and loyal servant. Roger, assured that
his nephews would be trained up by these two men in principles of due submis-
120 GIL BLAS.
sion to the royal authority, gave up the reins of guardianship to their control,
and himself took charge of his niece Constance. She was of the same age with
Enriquez, and only daughter of the princess Matilda. He allowed her an estab-
lishment of female attendants, and of masters in every branch of the politer
studies, so that nothing was wanting either to her instruction or her state.
Leontio Siffredi had a castle at the distance of less than two leagues from
Palermo, in a spot named Belmonte. There it was that this minister exerted
all his talents and diligence, to render Enriquez worthy of one day ascending
the throne of Sicily. From the first, he discovered dispositions so amiable in
that prince, that his attachment became as strong as if he had no child of his
own. He had, however, two daughters—Blanche, the first-born, one year
younger than the prince, was armed at all points with the weapons of a most
perfect beauty. Her sister Portia was still in her cradle. The mother had
died in child-bed of this youngest. Blanche and Prince Enriquez conceived a
reciprocal affection as soon as they were alive to the influence of love: but
they were not allowed to improve their acquaintance into familiar intercourse.
The prince nevertheless found the means of occasionally eluding the prudential
vigilance of his guardian. He knew sufficiently well how to avail himself of
those precious moments, and prevailed so far with Siffredi’s daughter, as to
gain her consent to the execution of a project which he meditated, It happened
precisely at this time that Leontio was obliged by the king’s order to take a
journey into one of the most remote provinces in the island. During his
absence Enriquez got an opening made in the wall of his apartment, which led
into Blanche’s chamber. ‘This opening was concealed by a sliding shutter, so
exactly corresponding with ‘the wainscot, and so closely fitting in with the ceil-
ing and the floor, that the most suspicious eye could not have detected the
contrivance, A skilful workman, whom the prince had gained over to his
interests, helped him to this private communication with equal speed and
secrecy.
Tic wlaniourea Enriquez having obtained this inlet into his mistress’s cham-
ber, sometimes availed himself of his privilege ; but he never took advantage of
her partiality. Imprudent as it may well be thought, to admit of a secret
entrance into her apartment, it was only on the express and reiterated assurance
that none but the most innocent favours should be requested at her hands.
One night he found her in a state of unusual perturbation. She had been
informed that Roger was drawing near his end, and had sent for Siffredi as
lord high chancellor of the kingdom, and the legal depository of his last will
and testament. Already did she figure to herself her dear Enriquez elevated
to royal honours. She was afraid of losing her lover in her sovereign, and that
fear had strangely affected her spirits. ‘The tears were standing in her eyes,
when the unconscious cause of them appeared before her. You weep, madam,
said he, what am I to think of this overwhelming grief? My lord, answered
Blanche, it were vain for me to hide my apprehensions. The king your uncle
is at the point of death, and you will soon be called to supply his place. When
I measure the distance placed between us by your approaching greatness, I
will own to you that my mind misgives me. The monarch and the lover
estimate objects through a far different medium. What constituted the fondest
wish of the individual, while his aspiring thoughts were checked by the control
of a superior, fades into insignificance before the tumultuous cares or brilliant
destinies of royalty. Be it the misgiving of an anxious heart, or the whisper of
a well-founded opinion, I feel distracting emotions succeed one another in my
breast, which not all my just confidence in your goodness can allay. The
source of my mistrust is not in the suspected steadiness of your attachment, but
in a diffidence of my own happy fate. Lovely and beloved Blanche, replied
THE FATAL MARRIAGE. 12
my devotion to your charms. Yet this excessive indulgence of a fond jealous
borders on disloyalty to love, and, if I may venture to say so, trenches on th
esteem to which my constancy has hitherto entitled me. No, no, never enter-
tain a doubt that my destiny can ever be sundered from yours, but rather indulge
the pleasing anticipation, that you, and you alone, will be the arbitress of my’
fate, and the source of all my bliss. Away, then, with these vain alarms.
must they disturb an intercourse so charming? Ah! my lord, rejoined the
daughter of Leontio, your subjects, when they place the crown upon your
head, may ask of you a princess-queen, descended from a long line of kings,
whose glittering alliance shall join new realms to your hereditary estates.
Perhaps, alas! you will meet their ambitious aims, even at the expense of your
softest vows. Nay, why, resumed Enriquez, with rising passion, why too ready
a self-tormentor, do you raise so afflicting a phantom of futurity? Should
heaven take the king my uncle to itself, and place Sicily under my do-
minion, I swear to unite myself with you at Palermo, in presence of my whole
court. To this I call to witness all which is held sacred and inviolable among
men,
The protestations of Enriquez removed the fears of Siffredi’s daughter.
The rest of their discourse turned on the king’s illness. Enriquez displayed the
goodness of his natural disposition, for he pitied his uncle’s lot, though he had
no reason to be greatly affected by it; but the force of blood extorted from him
sentiments of regret for a prince whose death held out an immediate prospect
of the crown. Blanche did not yet know all the misfortunes which hung over her.
The constable of Sicily, who had met her coming out of her father’s apartment,
one day when he was at the castle of Belmonte on some business of importance,
was struck with admiration. The very next day, he made proposals to Siffredi,
who entertained his offer favourably ; but the illness of Roger taking place un-
expectedly about that time, the marriage was put off for the present, and the
subject had not been hinted at in the most distant manner to Blanche.
One morning, as Enriquez had just finished dressing, he was surprised to see
Leontio enter his apartment, followed by Blanche. Sir, said this minister, the
news I have to announce will in some degree afflict your excellent heart, but it
is counteracted by consoling circumstances which ought to moderate your grief.
The king your uncle has departed this life; and by his death left you the heir
of his sceptre. Sicily is at your feet. The nobility of the kingdom wait your
orders at Palermo. They have commissioned me to receive them in person,
and I come, my liege, with my daughter to pay you the earliest and sin-
cerest homage of your new subjects. The prince, who was well aware that
Roger had been for two months sinking under a complaint gradual in its pro-
gress but fatal in its nature, was not astonished at this news. And yet, struck
with his sudden exaltation, he felt a thousand confused motions rising up by
turns in his heart. He mused for some time, then breaking silence, addressed
these words to Leontio—Wise Siffredi, I have always considered you as my
father. I shall make it my glory to be governed by your counsels, and you
shall reign in Sicily with a sway paramount to my own. With these words,
advancing to the standish and taking a blank sheet of paper, he wrote his
name at the bottom. What are you doing, sir? said Siffredi. Proving my
gratitude and my esteem, answered Enriquez. ‘Then the prince presented the
paper to Blanche, and said—Accept, madam, this pledge of my faith, and of
the empire with which I invest you over my thoughts and actions. Blanche
received it with a blush, and made this answer to the prince—I acknowledge
with all humility the condescensions of my sovereign, but my destiny is in the
hands of a father, and you must not consider me as ungrateful if I deposit this
the prince, your fears but bind me the more firmly in your fetters, and aon
122 GIL BLAS.
flattering token in his custody, to be used according to the dictates of his sage
discretion.
In compliance with these sentiments of filial duty, she gave the sign manual
of Enriquez to her father, Then Siffredi saw at once what till that moment
had eluded his penetration. He entered clearly into the prince’s sentiments,
and said: Your majesty shall have no reproaches to make me. _ I shall not act
unworthily of the confidence . . . . My dear Leontio, interrupted Enriquez, you
and unworthiness never can be allied. Make what use you please of my signa-
ture. I shall confirm your determination, But go, return to Palermo, pre-
scribe the ceremonies for my coronation there, and tell my subjects that I shall
follow you in person immediately, to receive their oaths of allegiance, and assure
them of my protection in return. The minister obeyed the commands of his
new master, and set out for Palermo with his daughter.
Some hours after their departure, the prince also left Belmonte, with his
thoughts more intent on his passion than on the high rank to which he was
called. Immediately on his arrival in the city, the air was rent with a thou-
sand cries of joy. He made his entry into the palace amid the acclamations of
the people, and everything was ready for the august formalities. The Princess
Constance was waiting to receive him, in a magnificent mourning dress. She
appeared deeply affected by Roger’s death. The customs of society required
from them a reciprocal compliment of condolence on the late event ; ai they
each of them acquitted themselves with good breeding and propriety. But
there was somewhat more coldness on the part of Enriquez than on that of
Constance, who could not enter into family quarrels, and resolved on hating the
young prince. He placed himself on the throne, and the princess sate beside
him, in a chair of state a little less elevated. The great officers of the realm
fell into their places, each according to his rank. The ceremony began; and
Leontio, as lord high chancellor of the kingdom, holding in his possession the
will of the late king, opened it, and read the contents aloud. This instrument
contained in substance that Roger, in default of issue, nominated the eldest son
of Mainfroi his successor, on condition of his marrying the Princess Constance ;
and in the event of his refusing her hand, the crown of Sicily was to devolve,
to his exclusion, on the head of the infant Don Pedro, his brother, on the like
condition.
These words were a thunderstroke to Enriquez. His senses were all be-
wildered even to distraction; and his agonies became still more acute, when
Leontio, having finished the reading of the will, addressed the assembly at large
to the following effect: My lords, the last injunctions of the late king having
been made known to our new monarch, that pious and excellent prince consents
to honour his cousin the Princess Constance with his hand. At these words
Enriquez interrupted the chancellor. Leontio, said he, remember the writing ;
Blanche... . Sire, interrupted Siffredi in his turn with precipitation, lest the
prince should find an opportunity of making himself understood, here it is. The
nobility of the kingdom, added he, exhibiting the blank paper to the assembly,
will see by your majesty’s august subscription, the esteem in which you hold the
princess, and your implicit deference to the last will of the late king your uncle.
Having finished these words, he forthwith began reading the instrument in
such terms as he had himself inserted. According to the contents, the new king
gave a promise to his people, with formalities the most binding and authentic,
that he would marry Constance, in conformity with the intention of Roger.
The hall re-echoed with pealing shouts of satisfaction. Long live our high and
mighty King Enriquez! exclaimed all those who were present. As the marked
aversion of the prince for the princess had never been any secret, it was appre-
hended, not without reason, that he might revolt against the condition of the
THE FATAL MARRIAGE. 123
will, and light up the flame of civil discord in the kingdom; but the public
enunciation of this solemn act, quieting the fears of the nobility and the people
on that head, excited these universal applauses, which went to the monarch’s
heart like the stab of an assassin. Constance, who had a nearer interest than
any human being in the result, from the double motive of glory and personal
affection, laid hold of this opportunity for expressing her gratitude. The prince
had much ado to keep his feelings within bounds. He received the compliment
of the princess with so constrained an air, and evinced so unusual a disorder in
his behaviour, as scarcely to reply in a manner suited to the common forms of
good breeding. At last, no longer master of his violent passions, he went up
to Siffredi, whom the formalities of his office detained near the royal person,
and said to him in a low tone of voice—What is the meaning of all this, Leon-
tio? The signature which I deposited in your daughter’s hands was not meant
for such a use as this. You are guilty of....
My liege, interrupted Siffredi again with a tone of firmness, look to your own
glory. If you refuse to comply with the injunctions of the king, your uncle,
you lose the crown of Sicily. No sooner had he thrown in this salutary hint,
than he got away from the king, to prevent all possibility ofa reply.. Enriquez
was left in a most embarrassing situation. A thousand opposite emotions
agitated him at once. He was exasperated against Siffredi: to give up Blanche
was more than he could endure: so that, balancing between his private feelings
and the calls of public honour, he was doubtful to which side he should incline.
At length his doubts were resolved, under the idea of having found the means
to secure Siffredi’s daughter, without giving up his claim to the throne. He
affected therefore an entire submission to the will of Roger, in the hope, while a
dispensation from his marriage with his cousin was soliciting at Rome, of gain-
ing the leading nobility by his largesses, and thus establishing his power so firmly,
as not to be under the necessity of fulfilling the conditions of the obnoxious in-
strument.
After forming this design, he got to be more composed ; and turning towards
Constance, confirmed to her what the lord high chancellor had read in presence
of the whole assembly. But, at the very moment when he had so far betrayed
himself as to pledge his faith, Blanche arrived in the hall of council. She came
thither, by her father’s command, to pay her duty to the princess ; and her ears,
on entering, were startled at the expressions of Enriquez. In addition to this
shock, Leontio, determined not to leave her in doubt of her misfortune, accom-
panied her presentation to Constance with these words : Daughter, make your
homage acceptable to your queen; call down upon her the blessings of a pros-
perous reign and a happy marriage. ‘This terrible blow overwhelmed the un-
fortunate Blanche. Vain were all her attempts to suppress her anguish; her
countenance changed successively from the deepest blush to a deadly paleness,
and she trembled from head to foot. And yet the princess had no suspicion
how the matter really stood ; but attributed the confused style of her compliment
to the awkwardness of a young person brought up in a state of rustication, and
totally unacquainted with the manners of a court. But the young king was more
in the secret. The sight of Blanche put him out of countenance: and the de-
spair, too legible in her eyes, was enough to drive him out of his senses. Her
feelings were not to be misunderstood; and they pointed at him as the most
faithless of men. Could he have spoken to her, it might have tranquillized his
agitation : but how to lay hold of the happy moment, when all Sicily, at least
the illustrious part of it, was fixed in anxious expectation on his proceedings ?
Besides, the stern and inflexible Siffredi extinguished at once every ray of hope.
This minister, who was at no loss to decipher the hearts of the two lovers, and
was firmly resolved, if possible, to prevent the evil consequences impending over
124 GIL BLAS.
the state from the violence of this imprudent attachment, got his daughter out
of the assembly with the dexterity of a practised courtier, and regained the road
to Belmonte with her in his Snape ty determined, for more reasons than one,
to marry her as soon as possible.
When they reached home, he gave her to understand all the horror of her
destiny, by announcing his promise to the constable. Just heaven! exclaimed
she, transported into a paroxysm of despair, which her father’s presence could
not restrain, what unparalleled sufferings have you the cruelty to lay up in store
for the ill-fated Blanche? Her agony went to such a degree of violence,-as to
suspend every power of her soul. Her limbs seemed as if stiffened under the
icy grasp of death. Cold and pale, she fell senseless into her father’s arms.
Neither was he insensible to her melancholy condition. Yet, feeling as he did
all the alarm and anxiety of a parent, the stern inflexibility of the statesman re-
mained unshaken, Blanche, after a time, was recalled to life and feeling, rather
by the keenness of her mental pangs than by the means which Siffredi used for
her recovery. Languishingly did she raise her scarcely conscious eyes : when
glancing on the author of her misery, as he was anxiously employed about her
CrSONi si, . ices My lord, said she, with inarticulate and convulsive accents,
am ashamed to let you see my weakness : but death, which cannot be long in
finishing my torments, will soon rid you of a wretched daughter, who has ven-
tured to dispose of her heart without consulting you. No, my dear Blanche,
answered Leontio, your death would be too dear a sacrifice : Virtue will resume
her empire over your actions. The constable’s proposals do you honour ; it is
one of the most considerable alliances in the state. ..... I esteem his person
and am sensible of his merit, interrupted Blanche ; but, my lord, the King had
given me encouragement to indulge......... Daughter, vociferated Siffredi,
breaking in upon her discourse, I anticipate all you have to say on that subject.
Your partiality for the prince is no secret to me, nor would it meet my disap-
probation under other circumstances. You should even see me active and
ardent to secure for you the hand of Enriquez, if the cause of glory and the wel-
fare of the realm demanded it not indispensably for Constance. It is on the
sole condition of marrying that princess, that the late king has nominated him
his successor. Would you have him prefer you to the crown of Sicily? Believe
me, my heart bleeds at the mortal blow which impends over you. Yet, since
we cannot contend with the fates, make a magnanimous effort. Your fame is
concerned, not to let the whole nation see that you have nursed up a delusive
hope. Your sensibility towards the person of the king might even give birth to
ignominious rumours. The only method of preserving y ourself from their poison,
is to marry the constable. In short, Blanche, there is no time left for irresolu-
tion. Theking has decided between a throne and the possession of your charms.
He has fixed his choice on Constance. The constable holds my words in
pledge ; enable me to redeem it, I beseech you. Orif nothing but a paramount
necessity can fix your wavering resolution, I must make an unwilling use of my
parental authority ; know then, I command you. .
Ending with this threat, he left her to make her own reflections on what had
passed. He was in hopes that after having weighed the reasons he had urged
to support her virtue against the bias of her feelings, she would determine of
herself to admit the constable’s addresses. He was not mistaken in his conjec-
ture : but at what an expense did the wretched Blanche rise to this height of
virtuous resolution! Her condition was that in the whole world the most de-
serving of pity. The affliction of finding her fears realized respecting the in-
fidelity of Enriquez, and of being compelled, besides losing the man of her
choice, to sacrifice herself to another whom she could never love, occasioned her
such storms of passion and alternate tossings of frantic desperation, as to bring
THE FATAL MARRIAGE. 125
with each successive moment a variety of vindictive torture. If my sad fate is
fixed, exclaimed she, how can I triumph over it but by death? Merciless
powers, who preside over our wayward fortunes, why feed and tantalize me with
the most flattering hopes, only to plunge me headlong into a gulf of miseries ?
And thow too,’ perfidious lover! to rush into the arms of another, when all
those vows of eternal fidelity were mine. So soon then is that plighted faith void
and forgotten? To punish thee for so cruel a deception, may it please heaven,
in its retribution, to make the conscious couch of conjugal endearment, polluted
as it must be by perjury, less the scene of pleasure than the dungeon of remorse !
May the fond caresses of Constance distil poison through thy faithless heart!
Let us rival one another in the horrors of our nuptials! Yes, traitor, I mean
to wed the constable, though shrinking from his ardent touch, to avenge me on
myself ! to be my own scourge and tormentor, for having selected so fatally the
object of my frantic passion. Since deep-rooted obedience to the will of God
forbids to entertain the thought of a premature death, whatever days may be
allotted me to drag on shall be but a lengthened chain of heaviness and torment.
If a sentiment of love still lurks about your heart, it will be revenge enough for
me to cast myself into your presence, the devoted bride or victim of another :
but if you have thrown off my remembrance with your own vows, Sicily at least
shall glory in the distinction of reckoning among its natives a woman who knew
how to punish herself for having disposed of her heart too lightly.
In such a state of mind did this wretched martyr to love and duty pass the
night preceding her marriage with the constable. Siffredi, finding her the next
morning ready to comply with his wishes, hastened to avail himself of this
favourable disposition. He sent for the constable to Belmonte on that very day,
and the marriage ceremony was performed privately in the chapel of the castle.
What a crisis for Blanche! It was not enough to renounce a crown, to lose a
lover endeared to her by every tie, and to yield herself up to the object of her
hatred. In addition to all this, she must put a constraint on her sentiments
before a husband, naturally jealous, and long occupied with the most ardent
admiration of her charms. ‘The bridegroom, delighted in the possession of her,
was all day long in her presence. He did not leave her to the miserable con-
solation of pouring out her sorrows in secret. When night arrived, Leontio’s
daughter felt all her disgust and terror redoubled. But what seemed likely
to become of her when her women, after having undressed her, left her alone
with the constable? He enquired respectfully into the cause of her apparent
faintness and discomposure. The question was sufficiently embarrassing to
Blanche, who affected to be ill. Her husband was at first deceived by her pre-
tences ; but he did not long remain in such an error. Being, as he was, sin-
cerely concerned at the condition in which he saw her, but still pressing her to
go to bed, his urgent solicitations, falsely construed by her, offered to her
wounded mind an image so cruel and indelicate, that she could no longer dis-
semble what was passing within, but gave a free course to her sighs and tears.
What a discovery for a man who thought himself at the summit of his wishes !
He no longer doubted but the distressed state of his wife was fraught with some
sinister omen to his love. And yet, though this knowledge reduced him to a
situation almost as deplorable as that of Blanche, he had sufficient command
over himself to keep his suspicions within his own breast. He redoubled his
assiduities, and went on pressing his bride to lay herself down, assuring her that
the repose of which she stood in need should be undisturbed by his interruption.
He offered of his own accord even to call her women, if she was of opinion that
their attendance could afford any relief to her indisposition. Blanche, reviving
at that proposal, told him that sleep was the best remedy for the debility under
which she laboured. He affected to think so too. They accordingly partook
126 GIL BLAS.
of the same bed,’ but with a conduct altogether different from what the laws of
love, sanctioned by the rites of marriage, might authorize in a pair mutually
delighted and delighting.
While Siffredi’s daughter was giving way to her grief, the constable was hunt-
ing in his own mind for the causes which might render the nuptial office so
contemptible a sinecure in his hands. He could not be long in conjecturing
that he had a rival, but when he attempted to discover him he was lost in the
labyrinth of his own ideas. All he knew with certainty, was the peculiar
severity of his own fate. He had already passed two thirds of the night in this
perplexity of thought, when an undistinguishable noise grew gradually on his sense
of hearing. Great was his surprise when a footstep seemed audibly to pace
about the room. He fancied himself mistaken ; for he recollected shutting the
door himself after Blanche’s women had retired. He drew back the curtain to
satisfy his senses on the occasion of this extraordinary noise. But the light in
the chimney corner had gone out, and he soon heard a feeble and melancholy
voice calling Blanche with anxious and importunate repetitions. Then did the
suggestions of his jealousy transport him into rage. His insulted honour oblig-
ing him to rush from the bed to which he had so long aspired, and either to
prevent a meditated injury, or take vengeance for its perpetration, he caught up
his sword and flew forward in the direction whence the voice seemed to proceed.
He felt a naked blade opposed to his own. ‘As he advanced, his antagonist re-
tired. The pursuit became more eager, the retreat more precipitate. is search
was vigilant, and every corner of the room seemed to contain its object, but that
which he momentarily occupied. The darkness, however, favoured the un-
known invader, and he was nowhere to be found. The pursuer halted. He
listened, but heard no sound. It seemed like enchantment! He made for the
door, under the idea that this was the outlet to the secret assassin of his honour ;
yet the bolt was shot as fast as before. Unable to comprehend this strange oc-
currence, he called those of his retinue who were most within reach of his voice.
As he opened the door for this purpose, he placed himself so as to prevent all
egress, and stood upon his guard, lest the devoted victim of his search should
escape.
At his redoubled cries, some servants ran with lights. He laid hold of a
taper, and renewed his search in the chamber with his sword still drawn. Yet
he found no one there, nor any apparent sign of any person having been in the
room. He was not aware of any private door, nor could he discover any prac-
ticable mode of escape: yet for all this, he could not shut his eyes against the
nature and circumstances of his misfortune. His thoughts were all thrown into
inextricable confusion. To ask any questions of Blanche was in vain : for she
had too deep an interest in perplexing the truth, to furnish any clue whatever to
its discovery. He therefore adopted the measure of unbosoming his griefs to
Leontio ; but previously sent away his attendants with the excuse that he thought
he had heard some noise in the room, but was mistaken. His father-in-law pee |
left his chamber in consequence of this strange disturbance, met him, and h
from his lips the particulars of this unaccountable adventure. The narrative was
accompanied with every indication of extreme agony, produced by deep and
tender feeling, as well as by a sense of insulted honour.
Siffredi was surprised at the occurrence. Though it did not appear to him
at all probable, that was no reason for being easy about its reality. The king’s
passion might accomplish anything; and that idea alone justified the most
cruel apprehensions. But it could do no good to foster either the natural
jealousy of his son-in-law, or his particular suspicions arising out of circum-
stances. He therefore endeavoured to persuade him, with an air of confidence,
that this imaginary voice, and airy sword opposed to his substantial one, were,
THE FATAL MARRIAGE. 127
and could possibly be, but the gratuitous creations of a fancy, under the influ-
ence of amorous distrust. It was morally impossible that any person should
have made his way into his daughter’s chamber. With regard to the melan-
choly, so visible in his wife’s deportment, it might very naturally be attributed
to precarious health and delicacy of constitution. The honour of a husband
need not be so tremblingly alive to all the qualms of maiden fear and inexperi-
ence. Change of condition, in the case of a girl habituated to live almost
without human society, and abruptly consigned to the embraces of a man in
whom love and previous acquaintance had not inspired confidence, might inno-
cently be the cause of these tears, of these sighs, and of this lively affliction so
irksome to his feelings. But it was to be considered that tenderness, especially
in the hearts of young ladies, fortified by the pride of blood against the excesses
of love-sick abandonment, was only to be cherished into a flame by time and
assiduity. He therefore exhorted him to tranquillize his disturbed mind ; to be
ardently officious in redoubling every instance of affection; to create a soft
and seducing interest in the sensibility of Blanche. In short, he besought him
earnestly to return to her apartment, and laboured to persuade him that his
distrust and confusion would only set her on an unconjugal and litigious defence
of her insulted virtue.
The constable returned no answer to the arguments of his father-in-law,
whether because he began to think in good earnest that his senses were imposed
on by the disorder of his mind, or because he thought it more to the purpose to
dissemble, than to undertake ineffectually to convince the old man of an event
so devoid of all likelihood. He returned to his wife’s chamber, laid himself
down by her side, and endeavoured ta obtain from sleep some relief from his
extreme uneasiness. Blanche, on her part, the unhappy Blanche, was not a
whit more at her ease. Her ears had been but too open to the same alarming
sounds, which had assailed her husband’s peace; nor could she construe into
illusion an adventure of which she well knew the secret and the motives. She
was surprised that Enriquez should attempt to find his way into her apartment,
after having pledged his faith so solemnly to the Princess Constance. Instead
of feeding her soul with vanity, or deriving any flattering omens from a pro-
ceeding fraught with personal tenderness, but destructive to self-approbation,
she considered it as a new insult, and her heart was only so much the more ex-
asperated with resentment against the author.
While Siffredi’s daughter, with all her prejudices excited against the young
king, believed him the most guilty of men, that unhappy prince, more than ever
ensnared by Blanche, was anxious for an interview, to satisfy her mind on a
subject which seemed to make so much against him. For that purpose he
would have visited Belmonte sooner, but for a press of business too urgent to
be neglected ; nor could he withdraw himself from the court before that night.
He was perfectly at home in all the turnings of a place where he had been
brought up, and thérefore was at no loss to slip into the castle of Siffredi.
Nay, he was still in possession of the key to a secret door communicating with
the gardens. By this inlet did he gain his former apartment, and thence found
his way into Blanche’s chamber. Only conceive what must have been the
astonishment of that prince to find a man in possession, and to feel a sword
opposed to his guard. He was just on the point of betraying all, and of pun-
ishing the rebel on the very spot, whose sacrilegious hand had dared to lift it-
self against the person of its lawful sovereign. But then the delicacy due to
the daughter of Leontio held his indignation in check. He retreated in the
same direction as he had advanced, and regained the Palermo road, in more
distress and perplexity than ever. Getting home some little time before day-
break, his apartment afforded him the most quiet retreat. But his thoughts
128 GIL BLAS.
were all on the road back to Belmonte. ‘The resting-place of his affections, a
sense of honour, in a word, love with all its pretensions and surmises, would
never allow him to delay an explanation, jeartslisig all the circumstances of so
strange and melancholy an adventure.
As soon as it was daylight he gave out that he was going on a hunting expe-
dition. Under cover of sporting, his huntsmen and a chosen party of his
courtiers penetrated into the forest of Belmonte under his direction. The
chase was followed for some time, as a blind to his real design, When he saw
the whole party eagerly driving on, and wholly engrossed by the sport, he
galloped off in a different direction, and struck, without any attendants, into
the road towards Leontio’s castle. The various tracks of the forest were too
well known to him to admit of his losing his way, His impatience, too, would
not allow him to take any thought of his horse ; so that the moments scarcely
flitted faster, than his edition in leaving behind him the distance which
separated him from the object of his love. His very soul was on the rack for
some plausible excuse to plead for a private interview with Siffredi’s. daughter,
when, crossing a narrow path just at the park gate, he observed two women
sitting close by him, in earnest conversation under the shelter of a tree. It
might well be supposed that these females belonged to the castle; and even
that probability was sufficient to rouse an interest in him. But-his emotion
was heightened into a feeling beyond his reason to control, for these ladies
happened to look round on hearing the trot of a horse advancing in that di-
rection ; when at once he recognized his dear Blanche. The fact was, she had
made her escape from the castle with Nisa, the person of all others among her
women most in her confidence, that she might at least have the satisfaction of
weeping over her misfortunes without intrusion or restraint.
He flew, and seemed rather to throw himself headlong than to fall at her
feet. But when he beheld in the expression of her countenance every mark of
the deepest affliction, his heart was softened. Lovely Blanche, said he, do not,
let me entreat you, give way to the emotions of your grief. Appearances, I
own, must represent me as guilty in your eyes: but when you shall be made ac-
quainted with my project in your behalf, what you consider as a crime will be
transformed in your thoughts into a proof of my innocence, and an evidence of
my unparalleled affection. These words, calculated, according to the views of
Enriquez, to allay the grief of Blanche, served only to redouble her affliction.
Fain would she have answered, but her sobs stifled her utterance. The prince,
thunderstruck at the death-like agitation of her frame, addressed her thus.
What, madam, is there no possibility of tranquillizing your agitation? By
what sad mischance have I lost your confidence, at the very moment when my
crown and even my life are at stake, in consequence of my resolution to hold
myself engaged to you? At this suagettion ie daughter of Leontio, doi
violence to her own feelings, but thinking it necessary to explain herself, sai
to him—My liege, your assurances are no longer admissible. My destiny and
yours are henceforward as far asunder as the poles. Ah! Blanche, interrupted
Enriquez with impatience, what cutting words are these, too painful for my
sense of hearing? Who dares step in between our loves? Who would venture
to stand forward against the headlong rage of a king who would kindle all
Sicily into a conflagration, rather than suffer you to be ravished from his long-
cherished hopes? All your power, my liege, great as it is, replied the daughter
of Siffredi in a tone of melancholy, becomes inefficient against the obstacles in
the way of our union. I know not how to tell it you, but.........1 am married
to the constable. ,
Married to the constable! exclaimed the prince, starting back to some dis-
tance from her. He could proceed no further in his discourse, so completely
THE FATAL MARRIAGE. 129
was he thunderstruck at the intelligence. Overwhelmed by this unexpected
blow, he felt his strength forsake him. His unconscious limbs laid themselves
without his guidance against the trunk of a tree just behind him: His coun-
tenance was pallid, his whole frame in a tremor, his mind bewildered and his
spirits depressed. With no sense or faculty at liberty but that of gazing, and
there every power of his soul was suspended on Blanche, he made her feel
most poignantly how he himself was agonized by the fatal event she had an-
nounced, The expression of countenance on her part was such as to show him
that her emotions were not uncongenial with his own. Thus did these two
distressed lovers for a time preserve a silence towards each other, which por-
tended something of terror in its calmness. At length the prince, recovering a
little from his disorder by an effort of courage, resumed the discourse, and said
to Blanche with a sigh—Madam, what have you done? You have destroyed
me, and involved yourself in the same ruin by your credulity.
Blanche was offended at the seeming reproaches of the king, when the
strongest grounds of complaint were apparently on her side. What! my lord,
answered she, do you add dissimulation to infidelity? Would you have me
reject the evidence of my own eyes and ears, so as to believe you innocent in
spite of their report? No, my lord, I will own to you such an effort of abstrac-
tion is not in my power. And yet, madam, replied the king, these witnesses
by whose testimony you have been so fully convinced, are but impostors,
They have been in a conspiracy to betray you. It is no less the fact that I am
innocent and faithful, than it is true that you are married to the constable.
What is it you say, my lord? replied she. Did I not overhear you confirming
the pledge of your hand and heart to Constance? Have you not bound yourself
to the nobility of the realm, and undertaken to comply with the will of the late
king? Has not the princess received the homage of your new subjects as their
queen, and in quality of bride to Prince Enriquez? Were my eyes then fasci-
nated? Tell me, tell me rather, traitor, that Blanche was weighed as dust in
the balance of your heart, when compared with the attractions of a throne.
Without lowering yourself so far as to assume what you no longer feel, and
what perhaps you never felt, own at once that the crown of Sicily appeared a
more tenable possession with Constance than with the daughter of Leontio. You
are in the right, my lord. My title to an illustrious throne, and to the heart of
a prince like you, stands on an equally precarious footing. It was vanity in
the extreme to prefer a claim to either: but you ought not to have drawn me
on into error. You well recollect what alarms were my portion at the very
thought of losing you, of which I had almost a supernatural foreboding. Why
did you lull my apprehensions to sleep? To what purpose was that delusive
‘mockery ? I might else have accused fate rather than yourself, and you would
at least have retained an interest in my heart, though unaccompanied by a hand
which no other suitor could ever have obtained. As we are now circumstanced,
your justification is out of season. Iam married to the constable. To relieve
me from the continuance of an interview, which casts a shade over my purity
hitherto unsullied, permit me, my lord, without failing in due respect, to with-
draw from the presence of a prince to whose addresses I am no longer at
liberty to listen.
With these words, she darted away from Enriquez in as hurried a step as the
agitation of her spirits would allow. Stop, madam, exclaimed he, drive not
to despair a prince, inclined to overturn a throne, which you reproach him for
having preferred to yourself, rather than yield to the importunities of his new
subjects. That sacrifice is under present circumstances superfluous, rejoined
Blanche. ‘The bond must be dh pe between the constable and me, before
_ any effect can be produced by these generous transports, Since I am not my
130 GIL BLAS.
own mistress, little would it avail that Sicily should be embroiled, nor does it
concern me to whom you give your hand. If I have betrayed my own weak-
ness, and suffered my heart to be surprised, at least shall I muster fortitude
enough to suppress every soft emotion, and prove to the new king of Sicily,
that the wife of the constable is no longer the mistress of Prince Enriquez.
While this conversation was passing, they reached the park gate. With a
sudden spring she and Nisa got within the walls. As they took care to fasten
the wicket after them, the prince was left in a state of melancholy and stupe-
faction. He could not recover from the stunning sensation, occasioned by the
intelligence of Blanche’s marriage. Unjust may I well call you, exclaimed he.
You have buried all remembrance of our solemn engagement! Spite of my
protestations and your own, our fates are rent asunder? The long-cherished
hope of possessing those charms was an empty phantom! Ah! cruel as you
are, how dearly have I purchased the distinction, of compelling you to acknow-
ledge the constancy of my love!
At that moment his rival’s happiness, heightened by the colouring of jea-
lousy, presented itself to his mind in all the horrors of that frantic passion. So
arbitrary was its sway over him for some moments, that he was on the a of
sacrificing the constable, and even Siffredi, to his blind vengeance. eason,
however, calmed by little and little the violence of his transports. And yet
the obvious impossibility of effacing from the mind of Blanche her natural con-
viction of his infidelity, reduced him to despair. He flattered himself with
weaning her from her prejudices, could he but converse with her secure from
interruption. To attain this end, it seemed the most feasible plan to get rid of
the constable. He therefore determined to have him arrested, as a person
suspected of treasonable designs, in the then unsettled state of public affairs.
This commission was given to the captain of his guard, who went immediately
to Belm secured the person of his prisoner just as the evening was closing
in, an ied him to the castle of Palermo.
This occurrence spread an alarm at Belmonte. Siffredi took his departure
forthwith, to offer his own responsibility to the king for the innocence of his
son-in-law, and to represent in their true colours the unpleasant consequences
attending such arbitrary exertions of power. ‘The prince, who had anticipated
such a proceeding on the part of his minister, and was determined at least to
secure himself a free interview with Blanche before the release of the constable,
had expressly forbidden any one to address him till the next day. But Leontio,
setting this prohibition at defiance, contrived so well as to make his way into
the king’s chamber. My liege, said he, with an air of humility tempered with
firmness, if it is allowable for a subject full of respect and loyalty to complain
of his master, I have to arraign you before the tribunal of your own conscience,
What crime has my son-in-law committed? Has your majesty sufficiently
reflected what an everlasting reproach is entailed on my family? Are the con-
sequences of an imprisonment calculated to disgust all the most important
officers of the state with the service, a matter of indifference? I have undoubted
information, answered the king, that the constable holds a criminal corre-
spondence with the Infant Don Pedro, A criminal correspondence! inter-
rupted Leontio, with surprise. Ah! my liege, give no ear to the surmise.
Your majesty is played upon. Treason never gained a footing in the family of
Siffredi, It is sufficient security for the constable that he is my son-in-law, to
pa him above all suspicion. The constable is innocent: but private motives
ave been the occasion of your arresting him.
_ Since you speak to me so openly, replied the king, I will adopt the same
sincerity with you. You complain of the constable’s imprisonment! Be it so.
And have I no reason to complain of your cruelty? It is you, barbarous Siffredi,
THE FATAL MARRIAGE. 13!
who have wrested my tranquillity from me, and reduced your sovereign, by
your officious cares, to envy the lowliest of the human race, For do not so far
deceive yourself as to believe that I shall ever enter into your views. My mar-
riage with Constance is quite out of the question...... What, my liege,
interrupted Leontio, with an expression of horror, is there any doubt about
your marrying the princess, after having flattered her with that hope in the face
of your whole people? If their wishes are disappointed, replied the king, take
the credit to yourself. Wherefore did you reduce me to the necessity of giving
them a promise my heart would not allow me to make good? Where was the
occasion to fill up with the name of Constance an instrument designed for the
elevation of your own daughter? You could not be a stranger to my design;
need you have completed your tyranny by devoting Blanche to the arms of a
man to whom she could not give her heart? And what authority have you
over mine to dispose of it in favour of a princess whom I detest? Have you
forgotten that she is the daughter of that cruel Matilda, who, trampling the
rights of consanguinity and human nature under foot, caused my father to
breathe his last under all the rigours of a hard captivity? And should I marry
her! No, Siffredi, throw away that hope. Before the lurid torch of such an
hymeneal shall be kindled in your presence, you shall behold all Sicily in flames,
and the expiring embers quenched in blood.
Do not my ears deceive me? exclaimed Leontio. Ah! sovereign, what a
scene do you present me with! Who can hear such menaces without shudder-
ing? But I am too forward to take the alarm, continued he in an altered
voice. You are in too close a union with your subjects to be the instrument of
a catastrophe so melancholy. You will not suffer passion to triumph over
our reason. Virtues like yours shall never lose their lustre by the tarnish of
oe and ordinary weakness. If I have given my daughter into the arms of
the constable, it was with the design, my liege, of securing to your majesty a
powerful subject, able by his own valour, and the army under his command, to
maintain your party against that of the Prince Don Pedro, It appeared to me
that by connecting him with my family in so close a bond..... doe 6) Yes
yes! This bond, exclaimed Prince Enriquez, this fatal bond has been my ruin.
Unfeeling friend, to aim a wound at my vital part! What commission had
you to take care of my interests at the expense of my affections? Why did
you not leave me to support my pretensions by my own arm? Was there any
question about my courage that I should be thought incompetent to reduce my
rebellious subjects to their obedience? Means might have been found to punish
the constable had he dared to have fallen off from his allegiance! I am well
aware of the difference between a lawful king and an arbitrary tyrant. The
happiness of our people is our first duty. But are we, on the other hand, to be
the slaves of our subjects? From the moment when we are selected by heaven
for our high office, do we lose the common privilege of nature, the birthright
of the human race, to dispose of our affections in whatsoever current they may
flow? Well then! if we are less our own masters than the lowest of the
human race, take back, Siffredi, that sovereign authority you affect to have
secured to me by the wreck of my personal happiness.
You cannot but be acquainted, my liege, replied the minister, that it was on
your marriage with the princess, the late king, your uncle, made the succession
of the crown to depend. And by what right, rejoined Enriquez, did even he
assume to himself so arbitrary a disposition? Was it on such unworthy terms
that he succeeded his brother, King Charles? How came you yourself to be
so besotted as to allow of a stipulation so unjust? Fora high chancellor, you
are not too well versed in our laws and constitutions. To cut the matter short,
though I have promised my hand to Constance, the engagement was not
132 GIL BLAS.
voluntary. I do not therefore think myself bound to keep my word ; and if
Don Pedro founds on my refusal any hope of succeeding to the throne without
involving the nation in a bloody and destructive contest, his error will be too
soon visible. The sword shall decide between us to whom the prize of empire
may more worthily fall. Leontio could not venture to press him further, and
confined himself to supplicating on his knees for the liberty of his son-in-law.
That boon he obtained. Go, said the king to him, return to Belmonte, the
constable shall follow you thither without delay. The minister departed, and
made the best of his way to Belmonte, under the persuasion that his son-in-law
would overtake him on the road. In this he was mistaken. Enriquez was
determined to visit Blanche that night, and with such views he deferred the
enlargement of her husband till the next morning.
During this time the feelings of the constable were of the most agonizing na-
ture. His imprisonment had opened his eyes to the real cause of his misfor-
tune. He gave himself up to jealousy without restraint or remorse, and bely-
ing the good faith which had hitherto rendered his character so valuable, his
thoughts were all bent on his revenge. As he conjectured rightly that the king
would not fail to reconnoitre Blanche’s apartment during the night, it was his
object to surprise them together. He therefore besought the governor of the
castle at Palermo to allow of his absence from the prison, on the assurance of
his return before daybreak. The governor, who was devoted to his interest,
gave his permission so much the more easily, as being already advertised that
Siffredi had procured his liberty. Indeed, he even went so far as to supply him
with a horse for his journey to Belmonte. The constable on his arrival there
fastened his horse to a tree. He then got into the park by a little gate of
which he had the key, and was lucky enough to slip into the castle without
being recognized by any one. On reaching his wife’s apartment he concealed
himself in the ante-chamber, behind a screen placed as if expressly for his use.
His intention was to observe narrowly what was going forward, and to present
himself on a sudden in Blanche’s chamber at the sound of any footstep he
should hear. _ The first object he beheld was Nisa, taking leave of her mistress
for the night, and withdrawing to a closet where she slept.
Siffredi’s daughter, who had been at no loss to fathom the meaning of her
husband’s imprisonment, was fully convinced that he would not return to Bel-
monte that night, although she had heard from her father of the king’s assur-
ance that the constable should set out immediately after him. As little could
she doubt but Enriquez would avail himself of the interval to see and converse
with her at his pleasure. With this expectation she awaited the prince’s ar-
rival, to reproach him for a line of conduct so pregnant with fatal consequences
to herself. As she had anticipated, a very short time after Nisa had retired the
sliding panel opened, and the king threw himself at the feet of his beloved.
Madam, said he, condemn me not without a hearing. It is true I have occa-
sioned the constable’s imprisonment, but then consider that it was the only
method left me for my justification, Attribute therefore that desperate strata-
gem to yourself alone. Why did you refuse to listen to my explanation this
morning? Alas! ‘To-morrow your husband will be liberated, and I shall no
longer have an opportunity of addressing you. Hearken to me then for the
last time. If the loss of you has embittered the remainder of my days, vouch-
safe me at least the melancholy satisfaction of convincing you that I have not
called down this misfortune on myself by my own inconstancy. I did indeed
confirm the pledge of my hand to Constance, but then it was unavoidable in
the situation to which your father’s policy had reduced us, It was necessary
to put this imposition on the princess for your interest and for my own; to
secure to you your crown, and with it the hand and heart of your devoted
THE FATAL MARRIAGE. 133
lover. I had flattered myself with the prospect of success. Measures were
already taken to supersede that engagement, but you have destroyed the bright
illusions of my fancy ; and, by disposing of yourself too precipitately, have ante-
dated an eternity of torment for two hearts, whom a mutual and perfect love
might have conducted to perpetual bliss.
He concluded this explanation with such evident marks of unfeigned agony,
that Blanche was affected by his words. She had no longer any hesitation
about his innocence. At first her joy was unbounded at the conviction ; but
then again a sense of their cruel circumstances gained the ascendant over her
mind, Ah! my honoured lord, said she to the prince, after such a determina-
tion of our destinies, you only inflict a new pang by informing me that you were not
to blame. What have I done, wretched as Iam? My keen resentment has
betrayed me into error. I fancied myself cast off; and in the moment of my
anger, accepted the hand of the constable, whose addresses my father pro-
moted, But the crime is all my own, though the woes are mutual. Alas!
In the very conjuncture when I accused you of deceiving me, it was by my own
act, too credulously impassioned as I was, that the ties were broken, which I
had sworn for ever to make indissoluble. Take your revenge, my lord, in your
turn. Indulge your hatred against the ungrateful Blanche.... Forget....
What! and is it in my power then, madam? interrupted Enriquez with a de-
jected air: how is it possible to tear a passion from my heart, which even your
injustice had not the power of extinguishing? Yet it becomes necessary for
you to make that effort, my liege, replied the daughter of Siffredi, with a deep
sigh. ... And shall you be equal to that effort yourself? replied the king. I
am not confident with myself for my success, answered she: but I shall spare
no pains in the attainment of my object. Ah! unfeeling fair one, said the
prince, you will easily banish Enriquez from your remembrance, since you can
contemplate such a purpose so steadfastly. Whither then does your imagina-
tion lead? said Blanche, in a more decisive tone. Do you flatter yourself that
I can permit the continuance of your tender assiduities? No, my lord, banish
that hope for ever from your thoughts. If I was not born for royalty, neither
has heaven formed me to be degraded by illicit addresses. My husband, like
yourself, my liege, is allied to the noble house of Anjou. Though the call of
duty were less peremptory, in opposing an insurmountable obstacle to your in-
sidious proposals, a sense of pride would hinder me from admitting them.
conjure you to withdraw: we must meet no more. What a barbarous sen-
tence! exclaimed the king. Ah! Blanche, is it possible that you should treat
me with so much severity? Is it not enough then to weigh me down, that the
constable should be in possession of your charms? And yet you would cut me
off from the bare sight of you, the only comfort which remains tome! For
that very reason avoid my presence, answered Siffredi’s daughter, not without
some tears of tenderness. The contemplation of what we have dearly loved is
no longer a blessing, when we have lost all hope of the possession. Adieu,
my lord! Shun my very image. You owe that exertion to your own honour
and to my good name. I claim it also for my own peace of mind: for to deal
sincerely, though my virtue should be steady enough to combat with the sug-
gestions of my heart, the very remembrance of your affection stirs up $o cruel a
conflict, that it is almost too much for my frail nature to support the shock.
. Her utterance of these words was attended with so energetic an action, as to
overset the light placed on a table behind her, and its fall left the room in
darkness. Blanche picked it-up. She then opened the door of the ante-
chamber, and went to Nisa’s closet, who was not yet gone to bed, for the pur-
se of lighting it again. She was now returning, after having accomplished
be errand, ‘The king, who was waiting for her impatiently, no sooner saw
134 GIL BLAS.
her approach, than he resumed his ardent plea with her, to allow of his atten-
tions. At the prince’s voice, the constable rushed impetuously, sword in hand,
into the room, almost at the same moment with his bride. Advancing up to
Enriquez with all the indignation which his fury kindled within him: This is
too much, tyrant, cried he; flatter not yourself that Iam cowardly enough to
bear with this affront, which you have offered to my honour. Ay! traitor, an-
swered the king, standing on his guard, lay aside the vain imagination of being
able to compass your purpose with impunity. With these mutual taunts, they
entered on a conflict, too violent to be long undecided. The constable, fearing
lest Siffredi and his attendants should be roused too soon by the piercing
shrieks of Blanche, and should interpose between him and his revenge, took no
care of himself. His frenzy robbed him of all skill. He fenced so heedlessly,
as to run headlong on his adversary’s sword. ‘The weapon entered his body
up to the hilt. He fell ; and the king instantaneously checked his hand.
The daughter of Leontio, touched at her husband’s condition, and rising su-
perior to her natural repugnance, threw herself on the ground, and was anxious
to afford him every assistance. But that ill-fated bridegroom was too deeply
prejudiced against her, to allow himself to be softened by the evidences she
gave of her sorrow and her pity. Death, whose hand he felt upon him, could
not stifle the transports of his jealousy. In these his last moments, no image
presented itself to his mind but his rival’s success. So insufferable was that
idea to him, that, collecting together the little strength he had left, he raised
his sword, which he still grasped convulsively, and plunged it deep in Blanche’s
bosom. Die, said he, as he inflicted the fatal wound ; die, faithless bride,
since the ties of wedlock were not strong enough to preserve to me the vow
which you had sworn upon the altar. And as for you, Enriquez, pursued he,
triumph not too loudly on your destinies. You are prevented from taking ad-
vantage of my froward fortune; and I die content. Scarcely did these words
quiver on his lips, when he breathed his last. His countenance, overcast as it
was with the shades of death, had still something in it of fierceness and of
terror. That of Blanche presented a quite different aspect. The wound she
had received was mortal. She fell on the scarcely breathing body of her hus-
band: and the blood of the innocent victim flowed in the same stream with
that of her murderer, who had executed his cruel purpose so suddenly, that the
king could not prevent it from taking effect.
This ill-fated prince uttered a cry at the sight of Blanche as she fell. Pierced
deeper than herself by the stab which deprived her of life, he did his utmost to
afford the same relief to her as she had offered, though at so fatal an expense,
to one who might have rewarded her better. But she addressed him in these
words, while the last breath quivered on her lips: My lord, your assiduities
are fruitless, I am the victim. Merciless fate demands me, and I resign myself
to death. May the anger of heaven be appeased by the sacrifice, and the pros-
perity of your reign be confirmed. As she was with difficulty uttering these
last words, Leontio, drawn thither by the reverberation of her shrieks, came into
the room; and, thunderstruck at the dreadful scene before him, remained fixed
to the spot where he stood. Blanche, without noticing his presence, went om
addressing herself to the king. Farewell, prince, said she; cherish my memory
with the tenderness it deserves. My affection and my misfortunes entitle me at
least to that. Harbour no aversion to my father ; he is innocent. Be a com-
fort to his remaining days; assuage his grief ; acknowledge his fidelity. Above
all, convince him of my spotless virtue. With this I charge you, before every
other consideration, Farewell, my dear Enriquez..... Iam dying..... Re-
ceive my last sigh,
Here her words were intercepted by the approach of death. For some time
AURORA ARRIVES AT SALAMANCA. 135
the king maintained a sullen silence. At length he said to Siffredi, whose
senses seemed to be locked up ina mortal trance: Behold, Leontio; feed on
the contemplation of your own work. In this tragical event, you may ruminate
on the issue of your officious cares, and your overweening zeal for my service.
The old man returned no answer, so deeply was he penetrated by his affliction.
But wherefore dwell on the description of circumstances, when the powers of
language must sink under the weight of such a catastrophe? Suffice it to say,
that they mutually poured forth their sorrows in the most affecting terms, as
soon as their grief allowed them to give vent to its effusions in speech,
Through the whole course of his life, the king cherished a tender recollection
of his mistress. He could not bring himself to marry Constance. The infant
Don Pedro combined with that princess, and by their joint efforts, an obstinate
attempt was made to carry the will of Roger into execution ; but they were
compelled in the end to give way to Prince Enriquez, who gained the ascend-
ancy over all his enemies, As for Siffredi, the melancholy he contracted from
having been the cause of destruction to his dearest friends, gave him a disgust
to the world, and made a longer abode in his native country insupportable.
He turned his back on Sicily for ever; and, coming over into Spain with Portia,
his surviving daughter, purchased this mansion. He lived here nearly fifteen
years after the death of Blanche, and had the consolation, before his own death,
of establishing Portia in the world. She married Don Jerome de Silva, and I
am the only issue of that marriage. Such, pursued the widow of Don Pedro
de Pinares, is the story of my family; a faithful recital of the melancholy events
represented in that picture, which was painted by order of my grandfather
Leontio, as a record to his posterity of the fatal adventure I have related.
Cu. V.—TZhe behaviour of Aurora de Guzman on her arrival at Salamanca.
OrtTIz, her companions, and myself, after having heard this tale, withdrew to-
gether from the hall, where we left Aurora with Elvira. There they lengthened
out the remainder of the day in a mutual intercourse of confidence. They were
not likely to be weary of each other: and on the following morning, when we
took our leave, there was as much to do to part them, as if they had been two
friends brought up in the closest habits of confidence and affection.
In due time we reached Salamanca without any impediment. There we
immediately engaged a ready-furnished house, and Dame Ortiz, as it had been
before agreed, assumed the name of Donna Kimena de Guzman. She had
played the part of a duenna too long not to be able to shift her character ac-
cording to circumstances. One morning she went out with Aurora, a waiting-
maid and a man-servant, and betook herself to a lodging-house, where we. had
been informed that Pacheco most commonly took up his abode. She asked if
there was any lodging to be let there. The answer was in the affirmative ; and
they showed her into a room in very neat condition, which she hired. She paid
down earnest to the landlady, telling her that it was for one of her nephews who
was coming from Toledo to finish his studies at Salamanca, and might be ex-
pected on that very day.
The duenna and my mistress, after having made sure of this apartment, went
back the way they came, and the lovely Aurora, without loss of time, metamor-
phosed herself into a spruce young spark. She concealed her black ringlets
under a braid of light-coloured hair, the better to disguise herself ;..... manu-
factured her eyebrows to correspond, and dressed herself up in such a costume,
as to look for all the world as if her sex were of a piece with her appearance.
Her deportment was free and easy ; so that, with the exception of her face, which
was somewhat more delicate than became the manly character, there was no-
136 3 GIL BLAS.
thing to lead to a discovery of her masquerading. The waiting-woman who
was to officiate as page, got into her paraphernalia at the same time, and we had
no apprehension respecting her competency to perform her part. There was
no danger of her beauty telling any tales ; and besides,she could put on as brazen-
faced a swagger as the most impudent dog in town. After dinner, our two
actresses, finding themselves in cue to make their first appearance on the stage,
where the scene was laid in the ready-furnished lodging, took me along with
them. We all three placed ourselves in the coach, and carried with us all the
baggage we were likely to have occasion for.
The landlady, Bernarda Ramirez by name, welcomed us with a glut of civility,
and led the way to our room, where we to make arrangements with her.
We concluded a bargain for our board by the month, which she undertook
should be suitable to our condition. Then we asked if she had her complement
of boaraers.’ x have none at all at present, answered she. Not that there
would be any want of enough, if I was of the mind to take in all sorts of
people: but young men of fashion are the thing for me. I expect one of that
description this morning: he is coming hither from Madrid to complete his
education. Don Lewis Pacheco! But you must have heard of him before
now. No, said Aurora, I have no acquaintance whatever with the gentleman ;
and since we areto be inmates together, you will do me a kindness by letting
me a little into his character. Please your honour, replied the landlady, leering
at this outside of a man, his figure is as taking as your own; just the same sort
of make, and about the same size. Oh! how well you will do together! By
St James, though I say it who should not say it, I shall have about me two of
the prettiest young fellows in all Spain. Well, but about Don Lewis! for my
mistress was in a fidget to ask the grand question. Of course;.... he is well
with the ladies in your parts! Enough of . .. of love affairs... on his hands!
Oh! do not you be afraid of that, rejoined the old lady; it is a forward sprig of
gallantry, take my word for it. He has but to shew himself before the works,
and the citadel sends to capitulate. Among the number of his conquests, he
has got into the good graces of a lady, with as much youth and beauty as he
will know what todo with. Hernameis Isabella. Her father is an old doctor
of laws. She is over head and ears in love with him ; absolutely out of her
wits! Well, but do tell me now, my dear little woman, I Aurora, as
if she was ready to burst, is he out of his wits too? He used to be very fond of
her, answered Bernarda Ramirez, before he went last to Madrid : but whether
he holds in the same mind still, I will not venture to say; because on these
points he is not altogether to be trusted. He is apt to flirt, first with one woman,
and then with sndetoels just as all you young deceivers take pleasure in doing.
You are all alike! )
The bonny widow had scarcely got to the end of her harangue, before we
heard a noise in the court. On looking out at the window, behold ! there ap-
peared two young men dismounting from their steeds. Who should it be, but the
identical Don Lewis Pacheco, just arrived from Madrid with a servant behind
him. The old lady brushed off to go and usher him in; whiie my mistress was
putting herself in order, not without some palpitation of heart, to enact Don
Felix to the best of her conceptions. Without waiting for any formalities, in
marched Don Lewis to our apartment in his travelling dress. I have just been
_ informed, said he, paying his respects to Aurora, that a young nobleman of
Toledo takes up his abode in this house. May I take the liberty of expressing
my joy in the circumstance, and hoping that we may be better acquainted ?
During my mistress’s reply to this compliment, it seemed to me as if Pacheco
did not know what to make of so smock-faced a young spark. Indeed he could
not refrain from declaring a more than ordinary admiration of an air and figure
DON LEWIS IS DECEIVED BY AURORA. 137
so attractive. After abundance of discourse, with every demonstration of re-
ciprocal good breeding, Don Lewis withdrew to the apartment provided for
him.
While he was getting his boots off, and changing his dress and linen, a sort of
a page, on the look-out after him to deliver a letter, met Aurora by chance
on the staircase. Her he mistook for Don Lewis. Thinking hehad found the
right owner for this tender message, of which he was the Mercury—Softly ! my
honoured lord and master, said he, though I have not the honour of knowing
Signor Pacheco, there can be no occasion for asking whether you are the man.
It is impossible to be mistaken in the guess. No, my friend, answered my
mistress with a most happy presence of mind, assuredly you are not mistaken.
You acquit yourself of your embassies to a marvel. I am Don Lewis Pacheco.
You may retire! I will find an opportunity of sending an answer. The page
vanished, and Aurora shutting herself up with her waiting-maid and me, opened
the letter, and read to us as follows :—‘‘I have just heard of your being at
Salamanca. With what joy did I receive the news! I thought I should have
gone out of my senses. But do you love Isabella as well as ever? Lose no
time in assuring her that you are still the same. In good truth, she will almost
expire with pleasure when once she is assured of your constancy.”
This is a mighty passionate epistle, said Aurora. The heart that indited it
has been caught inatrap. This lady is arival of nomean capacity. No pains
must be spared to wean Don Lewis from her, and even to prevent any future
interview. The undertaking is difficult, I acknowledge, and yet there seems no
reason to despair of the result. My mistress, taking her own hint, fell into a
fit of musing ; from which having recovered as soon as she fell into it, she added
—I will lay a wager they are at daggers drawn in less than twenty-four hours.
It so happened that Pacheco, after a short repose in his apartment, came to
look after us in ours, and entered once more into conversation with Aurora be-
fore supper. My dapper little knight, said he witha rakish air, I fancy the poor
devils of husbands and lovers will have no reason to hug themselves on your
arrival at Salamanca. You will make their hearts ache for them. As for my-
self, I tremble for all my snug arrangements. I tell you what! answered my
mistress with congenial spirit, your fears are not without their foundation. Don
Felix de Mendoza is rather formidable, so take care what you are about. This
is not my first visit in this country, the ladies hereabouts, to my knowledge, are
made of penetrable materials. About a month ago my way happened to lie
through this city. I halted for eight days, and you are to know...... but
a must not mention it...... that I set fire to the daughter of an old doctor
of laws.
It was evident enough that Don Lewis was disturbed by this declaration.
Might one without impropriety, replied he, just ask the lady’s name? What do
you mean by impropriety ? exclaimed the pretended Don Felix. Why make
any secret about such a matter as that ? Do youthink me more of a Joseph than
other young noblemen of my standing? Have a better opinion of my spirit.
Besides, the object, between ourselves, is unworthy of any great reserve, she is
but a little mushroom of the lower ranks. A man of fashion never quarrels with
his conscience about such obscure gallantries, and even thinks it an honour con-
ferred on a tradesman’s wife or daughter when he leaves her without any. I
shall therefore acquaint you in plain terms, that the name of the doctor’s daugh-
ter is Isabella. And the doctor himself, interrupted Pacheco impatiently... .
he possibly may be Signor Murcia de la Llana? Precisely so, replied my mis-
tress. Here is a letter sent me just now. Read it, and then you will see how
deeply your humble servant has dipped into her good graces. Don Lewis just
cast his eye upon the note, and recognizing the handwriting, was struck dumb
?
138 GIL BLAS.
with astonishment and vexation. What is the matter? cried Aurora, with an
air of surprise, keeping up the spirit of her assumed character. You change
colour! God forgive me, but you are a party concerned in this young lady.
Ah! Plague take my officious tongue for having opened my affairs to you with
so much frankness,
I am very much obliged to you for it for my own part, said Don Lewis in a
transport made up of spite and rage. Traitress! Jilt! My dear Don Felix,
how shall I ever requite you! You have restored me to my senses when they
were just on the wing for an eternal flight. I was tickling myself into a fool’s
paradise of credulous love. But love is too cold a term to express my extrava-
gancies. I fancied myself adored by Isabella. The creature had wormed her-
self into my heart by feigning to giveme herown. But nowI know her clearly
for a coquette, and as such despise her as she deserves. Your feelings on the oc-
casion do you infinite credit, said Aurora, testifying a friendly sympathy in his
resentment. A plodding pettifogger’s worthless brood might have gorged to
surfeit on the love of a young nobleman so captivating as yourself. Her fickle-
ness is inexcusable. So far from taking her sacrifice of you in good ‘part, it is
my determination to punish her by the keenest contempt. As for me, rejoined
Pacheco, I shall never set eyes on her again ; and if that is not revenge, the
devil is in it. You are in the right, exclaimed our masquerading Mendoza. At
the same time, that she may fully understand how ineffably we both disdain her,
I vote for sitting down, each of us, and writing her a sarcastic farewell. They
shall be enclosed in one cover, and serve as an answer to her own letter. But
do not let us proceed to this extremity till you have examined your heart ; it
may be you will repent hereafter of having broken off with Isabella. No, no,
interrupted Don Lewis, I am not such a fool as that comes to ; let it be a bar-
gain, and we will mortify the ungrateful wretch as you propose.
I immediately sent for pen, ink, and paper, when they sat themselves down
at opposite corners of the table, and drew up a most tender bill of indictment
against Doctor Murcia de la Llana’s daughter. Pacheco, in particular, was at
a loss for language forcible enough to convey his sentiments in all their acri-
mony ; away went exordium after exordium, to the tearing and maiming of five
or six fair sheets, before the words looked crooked enough to please his jealous
eyes. At length, however, he produced an epistle which came up with his most
tragical conceptions. It ran thus—‘‘Self-knowledge is a leading branch of
wisdom, ‘my little philosopher. As a candidate fora professor’s chair, lay aside
the vanity of fancying yourself amiable. It requires merit of a far different com-
pass to fix my affections. You have not enough of the woman about you to
afford me even a temporaryamusement. Yet do not despair, you havea sphere
of your own, the beggarly servitors in our university have a keen appetite, but
no very distinguishing palate.” So much for this elegant epistle! When
Aurora had finished hers, which rang the changes on similar topics, she sealed
them, wrapped them up together, and giving me the packet—There, Gil Blas,
said she, take care that comes to Isabella's hands this very evening. Youcom-
prehend me ! added she, with a glance from the corner of her eye, which admitted
of no doubtful construction. Yes, my lord, answered I, your commands shalt
be executed to a tittle.
I lost no time in taking my departure ; no sooner in the street than I said to
myself—So ho! Master Gil Blas, your part then is that of the intriguing foot-
man in this comedy. Well! so be it, my friend! shew that you have wit and
sense enough to top it over the favourite actor of the day. Signor Don Felix
a wink as good asanod. A high compliment to the quickness of your
apprehension! Is he then in an error? No. His hint is as clear as daylight.
Don Lewis’s letter is to drop its companion by the way. A lucid exposition of
ISABELLA RECEIVES DON LEWIS'S LETTER. 139
a dark hieroglyphic, enough to shame the dulness of the commentators. The
sacredness of a seal could never stand against this bright discovery. Out came
the single letter of Pacheco, and away went I to hunt after Doctor Murcia’s
abode. At the very threshold, whom should I meet but the little page who
had been at our lodging. Comrade, said I, do not you happen to live with the
great lawyer’s daughter? His answer was in the affirmative. I see by your
countenance, resumed I, that you know the ways of the world. May I beg the
favour of you to slip this littke memorandum into your mistress’s hand ?
The little page asked me on whose behalf I was a messenger. The name of
Don Lewis Pacheco had no sooner escaped my lips, than he told me—Since
that is the case, follow me. I have orders to shew you up. Isabella wants to
confer with you. I was introduced at once into a private apartment, where it
was not long before the lady herself made her appearance. The beauty of her
face was inexpressibly striking; I do not recollect to have seen more lovely
features. Her manner was somewhat mincing and infantine, yet for all that it
had. been thirty good years at least since she had mewled and _puked in ber
nurse’s arms, My friend, said she with an encoura smile, are you on
Lewis Pacheco’s establishment? I told her I had been in office for these three
weeks. With this I fired off my paper popgun against her peace. She read it
over two or three times, but if she had rubbed her eyes till doomsday she would
have seen no clearer. In point of fact, nothing could be more unexpected than
so cavalier an answer. Up went her eyes towards the heavens, appealing to
their rival luminaries. The ivory* fences of her pretty mouth committed
alternate trespass on her soft and suffering lips; and her whole physiognomy
bore witness to the pangs of her distressed and disappointed heart. Then
coming to herself a little, and recovering her speech—My friend, said she, has
Don Lewis taken leave of his senses? Tell me, if you can, his motive for so
heroic an epistle. If he is tired of me, well and good, but he might have taken
his leave like a gentleman.
Madam, said I, my master most assuredly has not acted as I should have
acted in his place. But he has in some sort been compelled to do as he has
done. If you would give me your word to keep the secret, I could unravel the
whole mystery. You have it at once, interrupted she with eagerness; depend
on it you shall be brought into no scrape by me, therefore explain yourself
without reserve. Well, then! replied I, the fact is, without paraphrase, cir-
cumlocution, loss of time, or perplexity of understanding, as I shall distinctly
state in two short words—Not halfa minute after the receipt of your letter,
there came into our house a lady, under a veil as impenetrable as her purpose
was dark. She inquired for Signor Pacheco, and talked with him in private
for some time, At the close of the conversation, I overheard her saying—You
swear to me never to see her more; but we must not stop there, to set my
heart completely at rest you must instantly write her a farewell letter of my
dictating. You know my terms, Don Lewis did as she desired, then giving
the result into my custody—Acquaint yourself, said he, where Doctor Murcia
de la Llana lives, and contrive to administer this love potion to his daughter
Isabella.
You see plainly, madam, pursued I, that this uncivil epistle is a rival’s
* Should this phrase appear far-fetched in the person of Gil Blas, it may be
recollected, that though not much of a student himself, he had waited on stu-
dents ; and might have sucked in, while standing behind their chairs, along
with ‘‘fates and destinies, and such old sayings, the sisters three, and such
branches of learning,” that exquisitely characteristic Greek metaphor—‘‘ a hedge
of teeth.” —TRANSLATOR,
140 } GIL BLAS.
handiwork, and that consequently my master is not so much to blame as, he
appears. Oh, heaven! exclaimed she, he is more so than I was aware of.
is words might have been the error of his hand, but his infidelity is the
offence of his heart. Faithless man! Now he is held by other ties!.... But,
added she, assuming an air of disdain, let him devote himself unconstrained to
his new passion; I shall never cross him. Tell him, however, that he need
not have insulted me. I should have left the course open to my rival, without
his warning me from the field: for so fickle a lover has not soul enough about
him to pay for the degradation of soliciting his return. With this sentiment
she gave me my dismissal, and retired in a whirlwind of passion against Don
Lewis.
My exit was conducted entirely to my own satisfaction, for I conceived that
with due cultivation of my talent I might in time become a consummate hypo-
crite and most successful cheat. I returned home on the strength of it, where
I found my worthy masters, Mendoza and Pacheco, supping together, and
rattling away as if they had been playfellows from their cradles. «Aurora saw
at once, by my self-sufficient air, that her commission had not been neglected
in my hands, Here you are again then, Gil Blas, said she, give us an account
of your embassy. Wit and invention was all I had to trust to, so I told them
I had delivered the packet into Isabella’s own hands; who, after having
glanced over the contents of the two letters, so far from seeming disconcerted,
burst into a fit of laughter, as if she had been mad, and said—Upon my word,
our young men of fashion write in a ie? style. It must be owned they are
much more entertaining than scribes of plebeian rank. It was a very good
way of getting out of the scrape, exclaimed my mistress, she must be an arrant
coquette. For my part, sid Don Lewis, I cannot trace a feature of Isabella
in this conduct. Her character must have been completely metamorphosed in
my absence. She struck me too in a very different light, replied Aurora. It
must be allowed some women can assume all modes and fashions at will. I
was once in love with one of that description, and a fine dance she led me.
Gil Blas can tell you the whole story! She had an air of propriety about her
which might have imposed upon a whole synod of old maids, It is true, said I,
putting in my oar; it was a face to play the devil with a sworn bachelor, I
could scarcely have been proof against it myself.
The personated Mendoza and Pacheco shouted with laughter at my manner
of expressing myself; the one for the false witness I bore against a culprit of
my own creation; the other laughed simply at the phrase in which my ana-
thema was couched. We went on talking about the versatility of women, and
the verdict, after hearing the evidence, all on one side, was given against Isa-
bella. A convicted coquette! and sentence passed on her accordingly. Don
Lewis made a fresh vow never to see her more, and Don Felix, after his
example, swore to hold her in eternal abhorrence. By dint of these mutual
protestations a sort of friendship was established on the spur of the occasion,
and they promised on both sides to keep no secrets from each other. The time
after supper passed in ingratiating intercourse, and the time seemed short till
they retired to their separate apartments. I followed Aurora to hers, where I
gave her a faithful account of my conversation with the Doctor’s daughter, not
orgetting the most trivial circumstance. She had much ado to help kissing
me for joy. My dear Gil Blas, said she, I am delighted with your spirit.
When one has the misfortune to be engaged in a passion not to be gratified but
by stratagems, what an advantage is it to secure on the right side a lad of so
enterprising a genius as yourself. Courage, my friend, we have thrown a rival
into the background, whose presence in the scene might have marred our
comedy, So far, all is well. But as lovers are subject to strange vagaries, it
AURORA’S DEVICES. 141
seems to me that we must make short work of it, and bring Aurora de Guzman
on the stage to-morrow. The idea met with my entire approbation ; so leaving
Signor Don Felix with his page, I withdrew to bed in an adjoining closet.
Cu. VI.—Aurora’s devices to secure Don Lewis Pacheco's affections,
THE two new friends met as soon as they came down in the morning. The
ceremonies of the day began with reciprocal embraces, about which it was
impossible for Aurora to be squeamish, for then Don Felix must have dropped
the mask altogether. They went out and walked about town arm in arm,
attended by Chilindron, Don Lewis’s footman, and myself. We loitered
about the gates of the university, looking at some posting bills and advertise-
ments of new publications. There were a good many people amusing them-
selves, like us, with reading over the contents of these placards. Among the
rest my eye was caught by a little fellow, who was giving his opinion very
learnedly on the works exposed to sale. I observed him to be heard with
profound attention, and could not help remarking how amply he deserved it in
his own opinion. He was evidently a complete coxcomb, of an arrogant and
dictatorial stamp, the common curse of your gentry under size. This new
translation of Horace, said he, announced here to the public in letters of a yard
long, is a prose work, executed by an old college author. The students have
taken a great fancy to the book ; so as to carry off four editions. But not a
copy has been bought by any man of taste! His criticisms were scarcely more
candid on any of the other books ; he mauled them every one without mercy.
It was easy enough to see he was an author! I should not have been sorry to
have staid out his harangue, but Don Lewis and Don Felix were not to be left
in the lurch. Now they took as little pleasure in this gentleman’s remarks as
they felt interest in the books which he was Scaligerising, so that they took a
quiet leave of him and the university.
We returned home at dinner-time. My mistress sat down at table with
Pacheco, and dexterously turned the conversation on her private concerns. My
father, said she, is a younger branch of the Mendoza family, settled at Toledo,
and my mother is own sister to Donna Kimena de Guzman, who came to Sala-
manca some days ago on an affair of business, with her niece Aurora, only
daughter of Don Vincent de Guzman, whom possibly you might be acquainted
with. No, answered Don Lewis, but I have often heard of him, as well as of
your cousin Aurora. Is it true what they say of her? Her wit and beauty are
reported to be unrivalled. As for wit, replied Don Felix, she certainly is not
wanting, for she has taken great pains to cultivate her mind. But her beauty
is byno means to be boasted of ; indeed, we are thought to be very much alike.
If that is the case, exclaimed Pacheco, she cannot be behindhand with her reputa-
tion. Your features are regular, your complexion almost too fine for a man ;
your cousin must be an absolute enchantress. I should like to see and converse
with her. That you shall, if I have any interest in the family, and this very day
too, replied the little Proteus of a Mendoza, We will go and see my aunt after
dinner.
My mistress took the first opportunity of changing the topic, and conversing
_ on indifferent subjects. In the afternoon, while the two friends were getting
ready to go and call on Donna Kimena, I played the scout, and ran before to
prepare the duenna for her visitors. But there was no time to be lost on my
return, for Don Felix was waiting for me to attend Don Lewis and him on their
way to his aunt’s. No sooner had they stepped over the threshold than they
were encountered by the adroit old lady, making signs to them to walk as softly
as possible. Hush! hush! said she, in a low voice, you will waken my niece.
142 GIL BLAS.
Ever since yesterday she has had a dreadful headache, but is just now a little
better ; and the poor girl has been taking a little sleep for the last quarter of an
hour. Iam sorry for this unlucky accident, said Mendoza, I was in hopes we
should have seen my cousin. Besides, I meant to have introduced my friend
Pacheco. There is no such great hurry on that account, answered Ortiz witha
significant smile, and if that is all, you may defer it till to-morrow. The gen-
tlemen did not trouble the old lady with a long visit, but took their leave as soon
as they decently could.
Don Lewis took us to see a young gentleman of his acquaintance, by name
Don Gabriel de Pedros. There we stayed the remainder of the day, and took
our suppers. About two o’clock in the morning we sallied forth on our return
home. We had got about half-way, when we stumbled against something on
the ground, and discovered two men stretched at their length in the street. We
concluded they had fallen under the knife of the assassin, and stopped to assist
them, if yet within reach of assistance. As we were looking about to inform
ourselves of their condition, as nearly as the darkness of the night would allow,
the patrole came up. The officer took us at first for the murderers, and ordered
his people to surround us ; but he mended his opinion of us on the sound of
our voices, and by favour of a dark lantern held up to the faces of Mendoza and
Pacheco. His myrmidons, by his direction, examined the twomen, whom our
fancies had painted asin the agonies of death, but it turned out to bea fat
licentiate with his servant, both of them overtaken in their cups, and not dead,
but dead drunk. Gentlemen, exclaimed one of the posse, this jolly fellow is
an ai, RUE ROR of mine. What! do you not know Signor Guyomer the licen-
tiate, head of our university ? With all his imperfections he is a great character,
aman of superior genius. He is as staunch as a hound at a philosophical
dispute, and his words flow like a gutter after a hail-storm. He has but three
foibles in which he indulges; intoxication, —- and fornication. He is
now returning from supper at his Isabella’s, whence, the more is the pity, the
drunk was leading the drunk, and they both fell into the kennel. Before the
good licentiate came to the headship this happened continually. Though man-
ners make the man, honours, you perceive, do not always mend the manners.
We left these drunkards in custody of the patrole, who carried them safe home,
and betook ourselves to our lodging and our beds.
Don Felix and Don Lewis were stirring about mid-day. Aurora de Guzman
was the first topic of their conversation. Gil Blas, said my mistress to me,
run to my aunt, Donna Kimena, and ask if there is any admission for Signor
Pacheco and me to-day, we want to see my cousin. Off I went to acquit my-
self of this commission, or rather to concert the plan of the campaign with the
duenna. We had no sooner laid our heads together to the purpose intended,
than I was once more at the elbow of the false Mendoza. Sir, quoth I, your
cousin Aurora has got about wonderfully. She enjoined me from her own lips
to acquaint you, that your visit could not be otherwise than highly acceptable,
and Donna Kimena desired me to assure Signor Pacheco, that any friend of
yours would always meet with an hospitable reception.
These last words evidently tickled Don Lewis’s fancy. My mistress saw that
the bait was swallowed, and prepared herself to haul the prey to shore. Just
before dinner, a servant made his appearance from Signora Kimena, and sai
to Don Felix—My lord, a man from Toledo has been inquiring after you, and
has left this note at your aunt’s house. The pretended Mendoza opened it,
and read the contents aloud to the following effect—‘‘ If your father and family
still live in your remembrance, and you wish to hear of their concerns, do not
fail, on the receipt of this, to call at the Black Horse, near the university.” I am
too much interested, said he, in these proffered communications, not to satisfy
DON LEWIS'S INTERVIEW WITH AURORA. 143
my curiosity at once. Without ceremony, Pacheco, you must excuse me for
the present; if I am not back again here within two hours, you may find your
way by yourself to my aunt’s; I will join the party in the evening. You
recollect Gil Blas’ message from Donna Kimena, the visit is no more tlan what
will be expected from you. After having thrown out this hint, he left the room,
and ordered me to follow him.
It can scarcely be necessary to apprize the reader, that instead of marching
down to the Black Horse, we filed off to our other quarters. ‘The moment
that we got within doors, Aurora tore off her artificial hair, washed the charcoal
from her eyebrows, resumed her female attire, and shone in all her natural
charms, a lovely dark-complexioned girl. So complete indeed had been her
disguise that Aurora and Don Felix could never have been suspected of iden-
tity. The lady seemed to have the advantage of the gentleman even in stature,
thanks to a good high pair of heels, to which she was not a little indebted. It
was her first business to heighten her personal graces with all the embellish-
ments of art ; after which she looked out for Don Lewis, in a state of agitation,
compounded of fear and of hope. One instant she felt confident in her wit
and beauty; the next she anticipated the failure of her attempt. Ortiz, on her
part, set her best foot foremost, and was determined to play up to my mistress.
As for me, Pacheco was not to see my knave’s face till the last act of the farce,
for which the great actors are always reserved, to unravel the intricacy of the
plot; so I went out immediately after dinner.
In short, the puppet-show was all adjusted against Don Lewis’s arrival. He
experienced a very gracious reception from the old lady, in amends for whose
tediousness he was blessed with two or three hours of Aurora’s delightful con-
versation. When they had been together long enough, in popped I, with a
message to the enamoured spark. My lord, my master Don Felix begs you ten
thousand pardons, but he cannot have the pleasure of waiting on you here this
evening. He is with three men of Toledo, from whom he cannot possibly get
away. Oh! the wicked little rogue, exclaimed Donna Kimena ; as sure as a
gun then he is going to make a night of it. No, madam, replied I, they are
deeply engaged in very serious business. He is really distressed that he cannot
pay his respects, and commissioned me to say everything proper to your
ladyship and Donna Aurora. Oh! I will have none of his excuses, pouted out
my mistress, he knows very well that I have been indisposed, and might shew
some slight degree of feeling for so near a relation. As a punishment, he shall
not come near me for this fortnight. Nay, madam, interposed Don Lewis,
such a sentence is too severe. Don Felix’s fate is but too pitiable, in having
been deprived of your society this evening.
They bandied about their fine speeches on these little topics of gallantry for
some time, and then Pacheco withdrew. The lovely Aurora metamorphosed
herself in a twinkling, and resumed her swashing outside. The grass did not
grow under her feet while she was running to the other lodging. I have a mil-
lion of apologies to make, my dear friend, said she to Don Lewis, for not giving
you the meeting at my aunt’s ; but there was no getting rid of the tiresome
people I was with. However, there is one comfort, you have had so much
the more leisure to look about you, and criticise my cousin’s beauty. Well! and
how do you like her? She is a most lovely creature, answered Pacheco. You
were in the right to claima resemblance to her. I never saw more correspond-
ent features ; the very same cast of countenance, the eyes exactly alike, the
mouth evidently a family feature, and the tone of voice scarcely to be distinguish-
ed. The likeness, however, goes no further, for Aurora is taller than you, she is
brown and you are fair, you are a jolly fellow, she has a little touch of the de-
mure ; so that you are not altogether the male and female Sosias, Asfor good
144 GIL BLAS.
sense, continued. he, if an angel from heaven were to whisper wisdom in one
ear, and your cousin her mortal chit-chat in the other, I am afraid the angel
might whistle for an audience.’ In a word, Aurora is all-accomplished.
ignor Pacheco uttered these last words with so earnest an expression, that
Don Felix said with a smile—My friend, I advise you to stay away from Donna
Kimena’s, it will be more for your peace of mind. Aurora de Guzman may set
your wits a wandering, and inspire a passion......
I have no need of seeing her again, interrupted he, to become distractedly
enamoured of her. Iam sorry for you, replied the pretended Mendoza, for you
are not a man to be seriously caught, and my cousin is not to be made a fool of,
take my word for it. She would never encourage a lover whose designs were
otherwise than honourable, Otherwise than honourable! retorted Don Lewis ;
who could have the audacity to form such on a lady of her rank and character ?
As for me, I should esteem myself the happiest of mankind, could she be pre-
vailed on to favour my addresses, and link her fate with mine.
Since those are your sentiments, rejoined Don Felix, you may command my
services. Yes, I will go heart and hand with you in the business, All my in-
terest in Aurora shall be yours ; and by to-morrow morning I will commence
an attack on my aunt, whose good word has more influence than you may think.
Pacheco returned his thanks with the best air possible to this young go-between,
and we were all agog at the promising appearance of our stratagem. On the
following day we found the means of heightening the dramatic effect by entan-
gling the plota littlemore. My mistress, after having waited on Donna Kimena,
as if to speak a good word in favour of the suitor, came back with the result
of the interview. I have spoken to my aunt, said she, but it was as much as I
could do to make her hear your proposal with f reapiee She was primed and
loaded against you. Some good-natured friend in the dark has painted you out
for a reprobate ; but I took your part with some little quickness, and at length
succeeded in vindicating your moral character from the attack it had sustained.
This is not all, continued Aurora. You had better enter on the subject with
my aunt in soy penecee we shall be able to make something of her between us.
Pacheco was all impatience to insinuate himself into the good graces of Donna
Kimena ; nor was the opportunity deferred beyond the next morning. Our
amphibious Mendoza escorted him into the presence of Dame Ortiz, where such
a conversation passed between the trio as put fire and tow to the combustible
heart of Don Lewis. Kimena, a veteran performer, took the cue of s thy
at,every expression of tenderness, and promised the enamoured you t it
should not be her fault if his plea with her niece was urged in vain. Pacheco
threw himself at the feet of so good an aunt, and thanked her forall her favours.
In this stage of the business Don Felix asked if his cousin wasup. No, replied
the Duenna, she is still in bed, and is not likely to be down-stairs while you
stay ; but call again after dinner, and you shall have a téte-4-téte with her to
your heart’s content. It is easy to imagine that so coming on a proposal from
the dragon which was to guard this inaccessible treasure, produced its full com-
plement of joy in the heart of Don Lewis. The remainder of the long morni
had nothing to do but to be sworn at! He went back to his own lodging wit
Mendoza, who was not a little enraptured to observe, with the scrutinizing eye of
a mistress under the disguise of a friend, all the symptoms of an incurable
amorous infirmity.
Their tongues ran on no earthly subject but Aurora. When they had done
dinner, Don Felix said to Pacheco—A thought has just struck me. It would
not be amiss for me to go to my aunt’s a few minutes before you ; I will get to
speak to my cousin in private, and pry, if it be possible, into every fold and
winding of her heart, as far as your interests are concerned. Don Lewis just
AURORA IS MARRIED TO DON LEWIS PACHECO. 148
chimed in with this idea, so that he suffered his friend to set out first, and did
not follow him till an hour afterwards. My mistress availed herself so diligent-
ly of the interval, that she was tricked out as a lady from heel to point before
the arrival of her lover. I beg pardon. ..... said the poor abused inamorato,
after having paid his compliments to Aurora and the Duenna...... I took it
for granted Don Felix would be here. You will see him in a few seconds, an-
swered Donna Kimena, he is writing in my closet. Pacheco was easily put off
with the excuse, and found his time pass cheerfully in conversation with the
ladies. And yet, notwithstanding the presence of all his soul held dear, it
seemed very strange that hour after hour glided away but no Mendoza stepped
forth from the closet ! He could not help remarking, that the gentleman’s corre-
spondence must be unusally voluminous, when Aurora’s features all at once as-
sumed the broader contour of a laugh, with a delightfully provoking question to
Don Lewis—Is it possible that love can be so blind as not to detect the glaring
imposition by which it has been deluded? Has my real self made so faint an
impression on your senses, that a flaxen peruke and a pencilled eyebrow could
carry the farce to such a height as this? But the masquerade is over now.
Pacheco, continued she, resuming an air of gravity ; you are to learn that Don
Felix de Mendoza and Aurora de Guzman are but one and the same person.
It was not enough to discover to him all the springs and contrivances by
which he had been duped ; she confessed the motives of tender partiality that
led her to the attempt, and detailed the progress of the plot to the winding up
of the catastrophe. Don Lewis scarcely knew whether to be most astonished
or delighted at the recital ; at my mistress’s feet he thus uttered the transports
of his fond applause—Ah ! lovely Aurora, can I believe myself indeed the happy
mortal on whom your favours have been so lavished ? What can I doto make you
amends for them? My affection, were this life eternal, could scarcely pay the
price. These pretty speeches were followed by a thousand others of: the same
quality and texture ; after which the lovers descended a little nearer to common
sense, and began planning the rational and human means of arriving at the ac-
complishment of their wishes. It was resolved that we should set out without
loss of time for Madrid, where marriage was to drop the curtain on the last act
of our comedy. ‘This purpose was executed in the spirit of impatience which
conceived it ; so that Don Lewis was united to my mistress in a fortnight, and
the nuptial ceremonies were graced with the usual accompaniments of music,
feasting, balls, and rejoicings, without either end or respite.
Cu. VIL —Gil Blas leaves his place and goes into the service of Don Gonzales
Pacheco.
THREE weeks after marriage, my mistress bethought herself of rewarding the
services I had rendered her. She made me a present of a hundred pistoles,
telling me at the same time—Gil Blas, my good fellow, it is not that I mean
to turn you away, for you have my free leave to stay here as long as you
please ; but my husband has an uncle, Don Gonzales Pacheco, who wants you
very much for a valet-de-chambre. I have given you so excellent a character,
that he would let me have no peace till I consented to part with you. Heisa
ae worthy old nobleman, so that you will be quite in your element in his
family,
I thanked Aurora for all her kindness ; and, as my occupation was over
about her, I so much the more readily accepted the post that offered, as it was
‘merely a transfer from one branch of the Pachecos to another. One morning,
therefore, I called on the illustrious Don Gonzales with a message from the
bride. He ought at least to haveover-sl ept himself, for he was in bed atnear noon.
: 7 a
146 GIL BLAS.
— ie
When I went into his chamber, a page had just brought him a basin of soup
which he was taking. The dotard cherished his whiskers, or rather tortured
them with curling-papers; though his eyes were sunk in their sockets, his
complexion pale, and his visage emaciated. This was one of those old codgers
who have been a little whimsical or so in their youth, and have made poor
amends for their freedoms by the discretion of their riper age. His reception
of me was affable enough, with an assurance that if my attachment to him kept
pace with my fidelity to his niece, my condition should not be worse than that
of my fellows. I promised to place him in my late mistress’s shoes, and be-
came the working partner in a new firm.
A new firm it undoubtedly was, and heaven knows we had a strange head of
the house. The resurrection of Lazarus was an ordinary event compared to his
getting up. Imagine to yourself a long bag of dry bones, a mere skeleton, a
dissection, an anatomy of a man; a study in osteology! As for the legs, three
or four pair of stockings one over the other, had no room to make any figure
upon them. In addition to the foregoing, this mummy before death was asth-
matic, and therefore obliged to divide the little breath he had between his
cough and his loquacity. He breakfasted on chocolate. On the strength of
that refreshment, he ventured to call for pen, ink, and paper, and to write a
short note, which he sealed and sent to its address by the page who had ad-
ministered the broth. But this henceforth will be your office, my good lad,
said he, as he turned his haggard eyes upon me; all my little concerns will be
in your hands, and especially those in which Donna Euphrasia takes an interest.
That lady is an enchanting young creature, with whom I am distractedly in
love, and by whom, though I say it who should not say it, Iam met with all
the mutual ardour of inextinguishable and unutterable passion.
Heaven defend us! thought I within myself: good now! if this old antidote
to rapture can fancy himself an object on which the fair should waste their
sweets, is it any wonder that among our young folks each fancies himself the
Adonis, for whom every Venus pines? Gil Blas, pursued he with a chuckle,
this very day will I take you to this abode of pleasure ; it is my house of call
almost every evening for a bit of supper. You will be quite petrified at her
modest appearance, and the rigid propriety of her behaviour. Far from taking
after those little wanton vagrants, who are hey-go-mad after striplings, and
give themselves up to the fascinations of exterior appearance, she has a proper
insight into things, staid, ripe, and judicious: what she wants is the bona fide
spirit and discretion of a man ; a lover who has served an apprenticeship to his
trade, in preference to all the flashy fellows of the modern school. This is but
an epitome of the panegyric, which the noble dupe Don Gonzales pronounced
upon his mistress. He burdened himself with the task of proving her a com-
pendium of all human perfection ; but the lecture was little calculated for the
conviction of the hearer. I had attended an experimental course among the
actresses ; and had always found that the elderly candidates had been plucked
in their amours. Yet, as a matter of courtesy, it was impossible not to put on
the semblance of giving implicit credit to my master’s veracity ; I even added
chivalry to courtesy, and threw down my glove on Euphrasia’s penny and
the correctness of her taste. My impudence went the length of asserting, that
it was impossible for her to have selected a better-provided crony. The grown-
up simpleton was not aware that I was fumigating his. nostrils at the expense
of his addled brain ; on the contrary, he bristled at my praises ; so true is it,
that a flatterer may play what game he likes against the pigeons of high life!
They let you look over their hand, and then wonder that you beat them.
The old crawler, having scribbled through his billet-doux, restrained the
luxuriance of a straggling hair or two with his tweezers ; then bathed his eyes
AN ANTIQUATED LOVER. ; 147
in the nostrum of some perfumer to give them a brilliancy which their natural
gum would have eclipsed. His ears were to be picked and washed, and his
hands to be cleansed from the effects of his other ablutions ; and the labours
of the toilette were to be closed, by pencilling every remaining hair in the dis-
forested domain of his whiskers, pericranium, and eyebrows. No old dowager,
with a purse to buy a second husband, ever took more pains to assure herself
by the cultivation of her charms, that the person and not the fortune should be
the object of attraction, The assassin stab of time was parried by the quart |
and tierce of art. Just as he had done making himself up, in came another
old fogram of his acquaintance, by name the Count of Asumar. This genius
made no secret of his grey locks ; leant upon a stick, and seemed to plume
himself on his venerable age instead of wishing to appear in the hey-day of his
prime. Signor Pacheco, said he as he came in, I am come to take pot-luck
with you to-day. You are always welcome, count, rejoined my master. No
sooner said than done! they embraced with a thousand grimaces, took their
seats opposite to one another, and began chatting till dinner was served.
Their conversation turned at first upon a bull-feast which had taken place a
few days before. They talked about the cavaliers, and who among them had
displayed most dexterity and vigour ; whereupon the old count, like another
Nestor, whom present events furnish with a topic of expatiating on the past,
said with a deep-drawn sigh : Alas! where will you meet with men now-a-days,
fit to hold a candle to my contemporaries? ‘The public diversions are a mere
bauble, to what they were when I was a young man. I could not help chuck-
ling in my sleeve at my good lord of Asumar’s whim ; for he did not stop at the
handywork of human invention. Would you believe it? At table, when the
fruit was brought in, at the sight of some very fine peaches, this ungrateful
consumer of the earth’s produce exclaimed : In my time, the peaches were of a
much larger size than they are now; but nature sinks lower and lower from
day to day. If that is the case, said Don Gonzales with a sneer, Adam’s hot-
house fruit must have been of a most unwieldy circumference.
The Count of Asumar staid till quite evening with my master, who had no
sooner got rid of him, than he sallied forth with me in his train. We went to
Euphrasia’s, who lived within a stone’s throw of our house, and found her
lodged in a style of the first elegance. She was tastefully dressed, and for the
youthfulness of her air might have been taken to be in her teens, though thirty
bonny summers at least had poured their harvests in her lap. She had often
been reckoned pretty, and her wit was exquisite. Neither was she one of your
brazenfaced jilts, with nothing but flimsy balderdash in their talk, and a liber-
tine forwardness in their manners : here was modesty of carriage as well as pro-
priety of discourse ; and she threw out her little sallies in the most exquisite
manner, without seeming to aspire beyond natural good sense. Oh heaven!
said I, is it possible that a creature of so virtuous a stamp by nature should have
abandoned herself to vicious courses for a livelihood? I had taken it for
granted, that all women of light character carried the mark of the beast upon
their foreheads. It was a surprise therefore to see such apparent rectitude of
conduct ; neither did it occur to me that these hacks for all customers could go
at any pace, and assume the polish of well-bred society, to impose upon their
cullies of the higher ranks, What if a lively petulance should be the order of
the day? they are lively and petulant. Should modesty take its turn in the
round of fashion, nothing can exceed their outward show of prudent and deli-
cate reserve. They play the comedy of love in many masks ; and are the prude,
hr coquette, or the virago, as they fall in with the quiz, the coxcomb, or the
ully.
Don Gonzales was a gentleman and a man of taste ; he could not stomach
—
if
148 3 GIL BLAS.
those beauties who call a spade a spade. Such were not for his market ; the
rites of Venus must be consummated in the temple of Vesta. Euphrasia had
got up her part accordingly, and proved by her performance that there is no
comedy like that of real life. I left my master, like another Numa with his,
Egeria, and went down into a hall, where whom should fortune throw in my
way but an old abigail, whom I had formerly known as maid-of-all-work to an
actress? The recognition was mutual. So! well met once more, Signor Gil
Blas, said she. Then you have turned off Arsenia, just as I have parted with
Constance. Yes, truly, answered I, it is a long while ago since I went away,
and exchanged her service for that of a very different lady. Neither the
theatre nor the people about it are to my taste. I gave myself my own dis-
charge, without condescending to the slightest explanation with Arsenia. You
were perfectly in the right, replied the new-found abigail, called Beatrice.
That was pretty much my method of proceeding with Constance. One morn-
ing early, I gave in my accounts with a very sulky air; she took them from
me in moody silence, and we parted in a sort of well-bred dudgeon.
Iam quite delighted, said I, that we have met again, where we need not be
ashamed of our employers. Donna Euphrasia looks for all the world like a
woman of fashion, and I am much deceived if she has not reputation too, You
are too clear-sighted to be deceived, answered the old appendage to sin. She
is of a good family; and as for her temper, I can assure you it is unparalleled
for evenness and sweetness. None of your termagant mistresses, never to be
pleased, but always grumbling and scolding about everything, making the house
ring with their clack, and fretting poor servants to a thread, whose places, in
short, are a hell upon earth! I have not in all this time heard her raise her
voice on any occasion whatever. When things happen not to be done exactly
in her way, she sets them to rights without any anger, nor does any of that bad
language escape her lips, of which some high-spirited ladies are so liberal. My
master, too, rejoined I, is very mild in his disposition; the very milk of human
kindness; and in this respect we are, between ourselves, much better off than
when we lived among the actresses. A thousand times better, replied Beatrice;
my life used to be all bustle and distraction; but this place is an actual hermit-
age. Not a creature darkens our doors but this excellent Don Gonzales. You
will be my only helpmate in my solitude, and my lot is but too greatly blessed.
For this long time have I cherished an affection for you: and many a time and
oft have I begrudged that Laura the felicity of engrossing you for her sweet-
heart ; but in the end I hope to be even with her. If I cannot boast of youth
and beauty like hers, to balance the account, I detest coquetry, and have all the
constancy as well as affection of a turtle-dove.
As honest Beatrice was one of those ladies who are obliged to hawk their
wares, and cheapen themselves for want of cheapeners in the market, I was
happily shielded from any temptation to break the commandments. Neverthe-
less, it might not have been prudent to let her see in what contempt her charms
were held : for which reason I forced my natural politeness so far, as to talk to
her in a style not to cut off all hope of my more serious advances, I flattered
myself then, that I had found favour in the eyes of an old dresser to the stage:
but pride was destined to have a fall, even on so humble an occasion. The
domestic trickster did not sharpen her allurements, from any longing for my
pretty person; her design in subduing me to the little soft god was to enlist me
for the purposes of her mistress, to whom she had sworn so passive an obedi-
ence, that she would have sold her eternal self to the old chapman, who first set
up the trade of sin, rather than have disappointed her slightest wishes. My
vain conceit was sufficiently evident on the very next morning, when I carried
an Ovidian letter from my master to Euphrasia. The lady gave me an affable
EUPHRASIA’S INSTRUCTIONS TO GIL BLAS. 149
reception, and made a thousand pretty speeches, echoed from the practised
lips of her chambermaid. The expression of my countenance was peculiarly
interesting to the one: but that within which passeth shew was the flattering
theme of the other. According to their account, the fortunate Don Gonzales
had picked up a treasure. In short, my praises ran so high, that I began to
think worse of myself than I had ever done in the whole course of my life.
Their motive was sufficiently obvious ; but L was determined to play at diamond
cut diamond. The simper of a simpleton is no bad countermine to the attack
ofa sharper. These ladies under favour were of the latter description, and they
soon began to open their batteries.
Hark you, Gil Blas, said Euphrasia, fortune declares in your favour if you do
not balk her. Let us put our heads together, my good friend. . Don Gonzales
is old, and a good deal shaken in constitution ; so that a very little fever, in the
hands of a very great doctor, would carry him to a better place. Let us take
time by the forelock, and ply our arts so busily as to secure to me the largest
slice of his effects. If I prosper, you shall not starve, I promise you; and my
bare word is a better security than all the deeds and conveyances of all the
lawyers in Madrid. Madam, answered I, you have but to command me. Give
me my commission on your muster-roll, and you shall have no reason to complain ,
either of my cowardice or contumacy. So be it, then, replied she. You must
watch your master, and bring me an account of all his comings and goings.
When you are chatting together in his more familiar moments, never fail to lead
the conversation on the subject of our sex; and then by an artful, but seemingly
natural transition, take occasion to say all the good you can invent of me. Ring
Euphrasia in his ears till all the house re-echoes. I would counsel you besides
to keep a wary eye on all that passes in the Pacheco family. If you catch any
relation of Don Gonzales sneaking about him, with a design on the inheritance,
bring me word instantly : that is all you have to do, and trust me for sinking,
burning, and destroying him in less than no time. I have ferreted out the
weak side of all your master’s relations long ago; they are each of them to be
made ridiculous in some shape or other ; so that the nephews and cousins, after
sitting to me for their portraits, are already turned with their faces to the wall.
It was evident by these instructions, with many more to the same time and
tune, that Euphrasia was one of those ladies whose partialities all lean to the
side of elderly inamoratos, with more money than wit. Not long before, Don
Gonzales, who could refuse nothing to the tender passion, had sold an estate ;
and she pocketed the cash. Nota day passed, but she got some little personal
remembrance out of him; and besides all this, a corner of his will was the ulti-
mate object of her speculation. I affected to engage hand over head in their
infamous plot; and if I must confess all without mental reservation, it was almost
a moot point, on my return home, on which side of the cause I should take a
brief. ‘There was on either a profitable alternative ; whether to join in fleecing
my master, or to merit his gratitude by rescuing him from the plunderers. Con-
science, however, seemed to have some little concern in the determination ; it
was quite ridiculous to choose the by-path of villany when there was a better
toll to be taken on the highway of honesty. Besides, Euphrasia had dealt too
much in generals; an arithmetical definition of so much for so much has more
meaning in it than ‘‘all the wealth of the Indies ;” and to this shrewd reflection,
perhaps, was owing my uncorrupted probity. Thus did I resolve to signalize
my zeal in the service of Don Gonzales, in the persuasion that if I was lucky
enough to disgust the worshipper by befouling his idol, it would turn to very
good account. Ona statement of debtor and creditor between the right and
the wrong side of the action, the money balance was visibly in favour of virtue,
not to mention the delights of a fair and irreproachable character,
150 GIL BLAS.
If vice so often assumes the semblance of its coutrary, why should not hypo-
crisy now and thenchange sides for variety? I held myself up to Euphrasia
for a thorough swindler. She was dupe enough to believe that I was incess-
antly talking of her to my master; and thereupon I wove a tissue of frippery
and falsehood, which imposed on her for sterling truth. She had so completely
given herself up to my insinuations, as to believe me her convert, her disciple,
her confederate. The better still to carry on this fraud upon fraud, affected to
languish for Beatrice; and she, in ecstacy at her age to see a young fellow at
her skirts, did not much trouble herself about my sincerity, if I did but play my
part with vigour and address, When we were in the presence of our princesses,
my master in the parlour and myself in the kitchen, the effect was that of two
different pictures, but of the same school. Don Gonzales, dry as touchwood,
with all its inflammability, and nothing but its smother, seemed a fitter sub-
ject for extreme unction than for amorous erg ; while my little pet, in
proportion to the violence of my flame, niggled, nudged, toyed, and romped,
like a school-girl in vacation; and no wonder she knew her lesson so pat, for
the old coquette had been upwards of forty years in the form. She had finished
her studies under certain professors of gallantry, whose art of pleasing becomes
the more critical by practice; till they die under the accumulated experience of
two or three generations.
It was not enough for me to go every evening with my master to Euphrasia’s:
it was sometimes my lounge even in day-time. But let me pop my headin at
what hour I would, that forbidden creature man was never there, nor even a
woman of any description, that might not be just as easily expressed as under-
stood. There was not the least loop-hole fora paramour! a circumstance not
a little perplexing to one who could not readily believe, that so pretty a bale of
goods could submit to a strict monopoly, by such a dealer as Don Gonzales,
‘This opinion undoubtedly was formed on a near acquaintance with female nature,
as will be apparent in the sequel ; for the fair Euphrasia, while waiting for my
master’s translation, fortified herself with patience in the arms of a lover, with
some little fellow-feeling for the frailties of her age.
One morning I was carrying, according to custom, a note to this peerless
pattern of perfection. There certainly were, or I was not standing in the room,
the feet of a man ensconced behind the tapestry. Out slunk I, just as if I had
no eyes in my head; yet, though such a discovery was nothing but what might
have been expected, neither was the piper to be paid out of my pocket, my
feelings were a good deal staggered at the breach of faith. Ah! traitress,
exclaimed I with virtuous indignation, abandoned Euphrasia! Not satisfied to
humbug a silly old gentleman with a tale of love, you share his property in your
person with another, and add profligacy to dissimulation! But to be sure, on
after-thoughts, I was but a greenhorn, when I took on so for such a trivial occur-
rence! It was rather a subject for mirth than for moral reflection, and perfectly
justified by the way of the world; the languid, embargoed commerce of my
master’s amorous moments had need be fillipped by a trade in some more mer-
chantable wares. At all events it would have been better to have held my
tongue, than to have laid hold on such an oppportunity of playing the faithful
servant. But instead of tempering my zeal with discretion, nothing would
serve the turn but taking up the wrongs of Don Gonzales in the spirit of
chivalry. On this high principle, I made a circumstantial report of what I had
seen, with the addition of the attempt made by Euphrasia to seduce me from
my good faith. I gave it in her own words without the least reserve, and put
him in the way of knowing all that was to be known of his mistress. He was
struck all in a heap by my intelligence, and a faint flash of indignation on his
faded cheek seemed to give security, that the lady’s infidelity would not go
ELUPHRASIA PROCURES GIL BLAS’S DISMISSAL. IS!
unpunished. Enough, Gil Blas, said he, I am infinitely obliged by your
attachment to my service, and your probity is very acceptable tome. I will
go to Euphrasia this very moment. I will overwhelm her with reproaches,
and break at once with the ungrateful creature. With these words, he actually
bent his way to the subject of his anger; and dispensed with my attendance,
from the kind motive of sparing me the awkwardness which my presence during
their explanation would have occasioned to my feelings.
I longed for my master’s return with all the impatience of an interested per-
son. ‘There could not bea doubt but that with his strong grounds of complaint,
he would return completely disentangled from the snares of his nymph. In this
thought I extolled and magnified myself for my good deed. What could be
more flattering than the thanks of the kindred who were naturally to inherit
after Don Gonzales, when they should be informed that their relative was no
longer the puppet of a figure-dance so hostile to their interests? It was not to
be supposed but that such a friend would be remembered, and that my merits
would at last be distinguished from those of other serving-men, who are usually
more disposed to encourage their masters in licentiousness, than to draw them
off to habits of decency. I was always of an aspiring temper, and thought to
have passed for the Joseph or the Scipio of the servants’ hall; but so fascinating
an idea was only to be indulged for an hour or two. The founder of my
fortunes came home. My friend, said he, I have had a very sharp brush with
Euphrasia. She insists on it that you have trumped up a cock-and-bull story.
If their word is to be taken, you are no better than an impostor, a hireling in
the pay of my nephews, for whose sake you have set all your wits at work to
bring about a quarrel between her and me. I have seen the real tears, made of
water, run down in floods from her poor dear eyes. She has vowed to me as
solemnly as if I had been her confessor, that she never made any overtures to
you in her life, and that she does not know what man is, Beatrice, who seems
a simple, innocent sort of girl, is exactly in the same story, so that I could not
but believe them and be pacified, whether I would or no,
How then, sir? interrupted I, in accents of undissembled sorrow, do you.
question my sincerity? Do you distrust..... No, my good lad, interrupted
he again in his turn, I will do you ample justice. I do not suspect you of
being in league with my nephews. I am satisfied that all you have done has
been for my good, and own myself much obliged to you for it; but appear-
ances are apt to mislead, so that perhaps you did not see in reality what you
took it into your head that you saw; and in that case, only consider yourself
how offensive your charge must be to Euphrasia. Yet let that be as it will, she
is a creature whom I cannot help loving in spite of my senses; so that the
sacrifice she demands must be made, and that sacrifice is no less than your
dismission. I lament it very much, my poor dear Gil Blas, and if that will be
any satisfaction to you, my consent was wrung from me most unwillingly ; but
there was no saying nay. With one thing, however, you may comfort yourself,
you shall not be sent away with empty pockets. Nay, more, I mean to turn you
over to a lady of my acquaintance, where you will live to your liking.
I was not a little mortified to find all my noble acts and motives end in my
own confusion. I gave a left-handed blessing to Euphrasia, and wept over the
weakness of Don Gonzales, to be so foolishly infatuated by her. The kind-
hearted old gentleman felt within himself that in turning me adrift at the per-
emptory demand of his mistress, he was not performing the most manly action
of his life. For this reason, as a set-off against his hen-pecked cowardice, and
that I might the more easily swallow this bitter dose, he gave me fifty ducats,
and took me with him next morning to the Marchioness of Chaves, telling that
lady before my face, that I was a young man of unexceptionably good cha-
152 GIL BLAS.
racter, and very high in his good graces, but that as certain family reasons
prevented him from continuing me on his own establishment, he should esteem
it as a favour if she would take me on hers. After such an introduction, I was
retained at once as her appendage, and found myself, I scarcely knew how, -
established in another household.
Cu. VIIL—TZhe Marchioness of Chaves: her character, and that of her
company.
THE Marchioness of Chaves was a widow of five-and-thirty, tall, handsome,
and well-proportioned. She enjoyed an income of ten thousand ducats, with-
out the incumbrance of a nursery. I never met with alady of fewer words,
nor one of a more solemn aspect. Yet this exterior did not prevent her from
being set up as the cleverest woman in all Madrid. Her great assemblies,
attended by people of the first quality, and by men of letters who made a coffee-
house of her apartments, contributed perhaps more than anything she said to
give her the reputation she had acquired. But this is a point on which it is
not my province to decide. I have only to relate, as her historian, that her
name carried with it the idea of superior genius, and that her house was called,
to distinguish it from the ordinary societies in town, The Fashionable Institu-
tion for Literature, Taste, and Science.
In point of fact, not a day passed, but there were readings there, sometimes of
dramatic pieces, and sometimes in other branches of poetry. But the subjects
were always selected from the graver muses ; wit and humour were held in the
most sovereign contempt. Comedy, however oye ; a novel, however
pointed in its satire or ingenious in its fable, such light productions as these
were treated as weak efforts of the brain without the slightest claim to patronage ;
whereas on the contrary the most microscopical work in the serious style,
whether ode, pastoral, or sonnet, was trumpeted to the skies as the most illus-
trious effort of a learned and poetical age. It not unfrequently fell out, that
the public reversed the decrees of this chancery for genius: nay, they had
sometimes the gross ill-breeding to hiss the very pieces which had been sanctioned
by this court of criticism.
I was chief manager of the establishment, and my office consisted in getting
the drawing-room ready to receive the company, in setting the chairs in order
for the gentlemen, and the sofas for the ladies : after which I took my station
on the landing-place to bawl out the names of the visitors as they came u
stairs, and usher them into the circle. The first day, an old piece of family
furniture, who was stationed by my side in the ante-chamber, gave me their
description with some humour, after I had shown them into the room. His
name was Andrew Molina. He hada good deal of mother’s wit, with a flowing
vein of satire, much gravity of sarcasm, and a happy knack at hitting off
characters. The first comer was a bishop. I roared out his lordship’s name,
and as soon as he was gone in, my nomenclator told me—That prelate is a
very curious gentleman. He has some little influence at court ; but wants to
persuade the world that he has a great deal. He presses his service on every
soul he comes near, and then leaves them completely in the lurch. One day he
met with a gentleman in the presence-chamber who bowed to him. He laid
hold of him, and squeezing his hand, assured him, with an imundation of
civilities, that he was altogether devoted to his lordship. For goodness’ sake,
do not spare me; I shall not die in my bed without having first found an
opportunity of making you my debtor. The gentleman returned his thanks
with all becoming expressions of gratitude, and when they were at some dis-
tance from one another, the obsequious churchman said to one of his attendants
CHARACTER OF THE LICENTIATE CAMPANARIO. 153
in waiting—I ought to know that man ; Ihave some floating, indistinct idea of
having seen him somewhere.
Next after the bishop, came the son of a grandee. When I had introduced
him into my lady’s room—This nobleman, said Molina, is also an original in
his way. You are to take notice that he often pays a visit, for the express pur-
pose of talking over some urgent business with the friend on whom he calls, and
oes away again without once thinking on the topic he came solely to discuss.
But, added my showman on the sight of two ladies, here are Donna Angela de
Penafiel and Donna Margaretta de Montalvan. ‘This pair have not a feature
of resemblance to each other. Donna Margaretta prides herself on her philo-
sophical acquirements ; she will hold her head as high as the most learned
head among the doctors of Salamanca, nor will the wisdom of her conceit
ever give up the point to the best reasons they can render. As for Donna
Angela, she does not affect the learned lady, though she has taken no unsuccess-
ful pains in the improvement of her mind. Her manner of talking is rational
and proper, her ideas are novel and ingenious, expressed in polite, significant,
and natural terms. This latter portrait is delightful, said I to Molina ; but the
other, in my opinion, is scarcely to be tolerated in the softer sex. Not over
bearable indeed! replied he with a sneer: even in men it does but expose
them to the lash of satire. The good marchioness herself, our honoured lady,
continued he, she too has a sort of a philosophical looseness. There will be
fine chopping of logic there to-day ! God grant the mysteries of religion may
not be invaded by these disputants.
As he was finishing this last sentence, in came a withered bit of mortality,
with a grave and crabbed look. My companion shewed him no mercy. This
fellow, said he, is one of those pompous, unbending spirits who think to pass
for men of profound genius, under favour of a few common-places extracted
out of Seneca ; yet they are but shallow coxcombs when one comes to examine
them narrowly. Then followed in the train a spruce figure, with tolerable
person and address, to say nothing of a troubled air and manner, which always
supposes a plentiful stock of self-sufficiency. I inquired who this was. A
dramatic poet! said Molina. He has manufactured an hundred thousand
verses in his time, which never brought him in the value of a groat; but asa
set-off against his metrical failure, he has feathered his nest very warmly by six
_ e humble prose: you will wonder by what magic touch a fortune could
emade.....
And so I did; but a confounded noise upon the staircase put verse and prose
completely out of my head. Good again! exclaimed my informer: here is the
licentiate Campanario. He is his own harbinger before ever he makes his appear-
ance. He sets out from the very street door in a continued volley of conversa-
tion, and you hear how the alarm is kept up till he makes his retreat. In good
sooth, the vaulted roof re-echoed with the organ of the thundering licentiate,
who at length exhibited the case in which the pipes were contained. . He
brought a bachelor of his acquaintance by way of accompaniment, and there
was not a sotto voce passage during the whole visit. Signor Campanario, said
I to Molina, is to all appearance a man of very fine conversation. Yes, replied
my sage instructor, the gentleman has his lucky hits, and a sort of quaintness
that might pass for humour; he does very well ina mixed company. But the
worst of it is, that incessant talking is one of his most pardonable errors. He
is a little too apt to borrow from himself; and as those who are behind the
scenes are not to be dazzled by the tinsel of the property-man, so we know how
to separate a certain volubility and buffoonery of manner from sterling wit and
sense, The greater part of his good things would be thought very bad ones, if
submitted, without their concomitant grimaces, to the ordeal of a jest book.
154 GIL BLAS.
Other groups passed before us, and Molina touched them with his wand.
The marchioness too came in for a magic rap over the knuckles, Our lady
patroness, said he, is better than might be expected for a female philosopher.
She is not dainty in her likings ; and bating a whim or too, it is no hard matter
to give her satisfaction. Wits and women of quality seldom approach so near
the atmosphere of good sense; and for passion, she scarcely knows what it is.
Play and gallantry are equally in her black books: dear conversation is her first
and sole delight. To lead such a life would be little better than penance to the
common run of ladies. Molina’s character of my mistress established her at
once in my good graces. And yet, in the course of a few days, I could not help
suspecting that, though not dainty in her likings, she knew what passion
was, and that a foul copy of gallantry delighted her more than the fairest
conversation,
One morning, during the mysteries of the toilette, there presented himself to
my notice a little fellow of forty, forbidding in his aspect, more filthy if possible
than Pedro de Moya the bookworm, and verging in no marketable measure
towards deformity. Hetold me he wanted to speak with my lady marchioness,
On whose business? quoth I. On my own, quoth he, somewhat snappishly.
Tell her I am the gentleman;..... she will understand you;..... about
whom she was talking yesterday with Donna Anna de Velasco. I went before
him into my lady’s apartment, and gave in his name. The marchioness all at
once shrieked out her satisfaction, and ordered me to show him in, It was not
courtesy enough to point to a chair, and bid him sit down: but the attendants,
forsooth, her own maids about her person were to withdraw, so that the little
hunchback, with better luck than falls to the lot of many a taller man, had the
field entirely to himself, as lord paramount. As for the girls and myself, we
could not help tittering a little at this uncouthly concerted duet, which lasted
nearly an hour: when my patroness dismissed his little lordship, with such a
profusion of farewells and God-be-with-you’s, as sufficiently evinced her thank-
fulness for the entertainment she had received.
The conversation had, in fact, been so edifying, that in the afternoon she
seized a private opportunity of whispering in my ear—Gil Blas, when the short
gentleman comes again, you may shew him up the back stairs; there is no need
of parading him along a line of staring servants. I did as I was ordered. When
this epitome of humanity knocked at the door, and that hour was no further off
than the next morning, we threaded all the bye passages to the place of assign-
ation. I played the same modest part two or three times in the very inno-
cence of my soul, without the most distant guess that the material system could
form any part of their philosophy. But that hound-like snuff at an ill construc-
tion, with which the devil has armed the noses of the most charitable, put me
on the scent of a very whimsical game, and I concluded either that the mar-
chioness had an odd taste, or that crookback courted her as proxy to a better
man,
Faith and troth, thought I, with all the impertinence of a hasty opinion, if
my mistress really likes a handsome fellow behind the curtain, all is well; I
forgive her her sins: but if she is stark mad for such a monkey as this, to
say the truth, there will be little mercy for her on male or female tongues. But
how foully did I defame my honoured patroness! The genius of magic had
aero: herself upon the little conjurer’s protuberant shoulder; and his skill
aving been puffed off to the marchioness, who was just the right food for such
jugglers and their tricks, she held private conferences with him. Under his
tuition she was to command wealth and treasure, to build castles in the air, to
remove from place to place in an instant, to reveal future events, to tell what is
done in far countries, to call the dead out of their graves, and terrify the world
GIL BLAS FIGHTS A DUEL.’ 155
with many miracles. Seriously, and to give him his deserts, the scoundrel
lived on the folly of the public; and it has been confidently asserted, that
ladies of fashion have not in all ages and countries been exempt from the
credulity of their inferiors.
Cu. IX.—Axn incident that parted Gil Blas and the Marchioness of Chaves.
The subsequent destination of the former.
For six months I lived with the Marchioness of Chaves, and, as it must be ad-
mitted, on the fat of the land. But fate,who thrusts footmen as well as heroes
into the world, with herself tied about their necks, gave me a jog to be gone,
and swore that I should stay no longer in that family or in Madrid. The ad-
venture by which this decree was announced shall be the subject of the ensuing
narrative.
In my mistress’s female squad there was a nymph named Portia. To say
nothing of her youth and beauty, it was her meek demeanour and good repute
that captivated me, who had yet to learn that none but the brave deserves the
fair. ‘The marchioness’s secretary, as proud as a prime minister, and as jealous
as the Grand Turk, was caught in the same trap as myself. No sooner did he
cast an unlucky squint at my advances, than, without waiting to see how Portia
might chance to fancy them, he determined pell-mell to have a tilt with me.
To forward this ghostly enterprise, he gave me an appointment one morning in
a place sadly impervious to all seasonable interruption. Yet as he was a little
go-by-the-ground, scarcely up to my shoulders, and apparently of feeble frame,
he did not look like a very dangerous antagonist; so away I went with some
little courage to the appointed spot. Thinking to come off with flying colours, I
anticipated the effect of my bravery on the heart of Portia; but as it turned out,
I was gathering my laurels before they had budded. The little secretary, who
had been practising for two or three years at the fencing-school, disarmed me
like a very baby, and holding the point of his sword up to my throat, Prepare
thyself, said he, to balance thine accounts with this world, and open a correspond-
ence with the next, or give me thy rascally word to leave the Marchioness of
Chaves this very day, and never more to think of my Portia. I gave him my
rascally word, and was honest enough not to think of breaking it. There was
an awkwardness in shewing my face before the servants of the family, after
having been worsted; and especially before the high and mighty princess who
had been the theme of our tournament. I only returned home to get together
my baggage and wages,and on that very day set off towards Toledo, with a
purse pretty well lined, and a knapsack at my back with my wardrobe and
moveables. ‘Though my rascally word was not given to abandon the purlieus
of Madrid, I considered it as a matter of delicacy to disappear, at least for a
few seasous. My resolution was to make the tour of Spain, and to halt first at
one town and then at another. My ready money, thought I, will carry me a
good way; I shall not call about me very prodigally. When my stock is ex-
hausted, I can but go into service again. A lad of my versatility will find places
in plenty, whenever it may be convenient to look out for them.
It was particularly my wish to see Toledo: and I got thither after three days’
journey. My quarters were at a respectable house of entertainment, where I
was taken for a gentleman of some figure, under favour of my best clothes,
in which I did not fail to bedizen myself. With the pick-tooth carelessness of
a lounger, the affectation of a puppy, and the pertness of a wit, it remained with
me to dictate the terms of an arrangement with some very pretty women who
infested that neighbourhood ; but, as a hint had been given me that the pocket
was the high road to their good graces,my amorous enthusiasm was a little
156 GIL BLAS.
flattered, and, as it was no part of my plan to domesticate myself in any one
place, after having seen all the lions at Toledo, I started one morning with the
dawn, and took the road to Cuenca, intending to go to Arragon. On the se-
cond day I went into an inn which stood open to receive me by the road side.
Just as I was beginning to recruit the aaa} department of my nature, in came
a party pv to the Holy Brotherhood. These gentlemen called for wine,
and set in for a bout. Over their cups they were conning the descrip-
tion of a young man, whom they had orders to arrest. The spark, said one of
them, is not above three-and-twenty: he has long black hair, is well grown, with
an a hh nose, and rides a bay horse.
I heard their talk without seeming to be a listener; and, in fact, did not
trouble my head much about it, They remained in their quarters, and I pursued
my journey. Scarcely had I gone a quarter of a mile, before I met a young
gentleman on horseback, as personable as need be, and mounted as described
by the officers. Faith and truth, thought I within myself, this is the very
identical man. Black hair and an aquiline nose! One cannot help doing a
good office when it comes in one’s way. Sir, said I, give me leave to ask you
whether you have not some disagreeable business on your hands? The young
man, without returning any answer, looked at me from head to foot, and seemed
startled at my question. I assured him it was not wanton curiosity that induced
me to address him. He was satisfied of that when I related all I had heard at
the inn. My unknown benefactor, said he, I will not deny to you that I have
reason to believe myself actually the person of whom the officers are in quest :
therefore I shall take another road to avoid them. In my opinion, answered I,
it would be better to look out for a spot where you may be in safety, and under
shelter from a storm which is brewing, and will soon pour down upon our heads.
Without loss of time we discovered and made for a row of trees, forming a
natural avenue, which led us to the foot of a mountain, where we found an
hermitage.
There was a large and deep grotto which time had worn away into the heart
of the rock; and the hand of man had added a rude front built of pebbles and
shell-work, covered all over with turf. The adjacent grounds were strewed with
a thousand sorts of flowers, which scattered their perfume; and one was pleased
to see hard by the grotto, a small fissure in the mountain, whence a spring rip-
pled with a tinkling noise, and poured its pellucid stream along the meadow.
At the entrance of this solitary abode stood a venerable hermit, seemingly
weighed down with years. He supported himself with one hand upon a staff,
and held a rosary of large beads with the other, composed of at least twenty
rows. His head was almost lost in a brown woollen cap with long ears; and
his beard, whiter than snow, swept down in aged majesty to his waist. We ad-
vanced towards him, Father, said I, is it your pleasure to allow us shelter from
the threatening storm? Come in, my sons, replied the hermit, after examining
me attentively; this hermitage is at your service, to occupy it during pleasure.
As for your horse, added he, pointing to the court-yard of his mansion, he will
be very well off there. My companion disposed of the animal accordingly, and
we followed the old man into the grotto.
No sooner had we got in than a heavy rain fell, with a terrific storm of thun-
der and lightning. The hermit threw himself upon his knees before a consecrated
image, fastened to the wall, and we followed the example of our host. Our
devotions ceased with the subsiding of the storm; but as the rain continued,
though with diminished violence, and night was not far distant, the old man
said to us—My sons, you had better not pursue your journey in such weather,
unless your affairs are pressing. We answered with one consent, that we had
nothing to hinder us from staying there, but the fear of incommoding him}; but
HISTORY OF DON ALPHONSO AND SERAPHINA. ) 157
that if there was room for us in the hermitage, we would thank him for a night’s
lodging. You may have it without inconvenience, answered the hermit, at least
the inconvenience will be all your own. Your accommodation will be rough,
and your meal such as a recluse has to offer.
With this cordial welcome to a homely board, the holy personage seated us
at a little table, and set before us a few vegetables, a crust of bread, and a
pitcher of water. My sons, resumed he, you behold my ordinary fare, but to-
day I will make a feast in hospitality towards you. So saying, he fetched a
little cheese and some nuts, which he threw down upon the table. The young
man, whose appetite was not keen, felt but little tempted by his entertainment,
I perceive, said the hermit to him, that you are accustomed to better tables
than mine, or rather that sensuality has vitiated your natural relish, I
have been in the world like you. The utmost ingenuity of the culinary art,
whether to stimulate or soothe the palate, was exerted by turns for my gratifica-
tion. But since I have lived in solitude, my taste has recovered its simplicity,
Now, vegetables, fruit, and milk, are my greatest dainties ; in a word, I keep
an antediluvian table.
While he was haranguing after this fashion, the young man fell into a deep
musing. ‘The hermit was aware of his inattention. My son, said he, some-
thing weighs upon your spirits. May we not be informed what disturbs you ?
Open your heart tome. Curiosity is not my motive for questioning you, but
charity, and a desire to be of service. Jam ata time of life to give advice, and
you perhaps are under circumstances to stand in need of it. Yes, father, replied
the gentleman with a sigh, I doubtless do stand in need of it, and will follow
yours, since you are so good as to offer it; I cannot suppose there is any risk
in unbosoming myself to a man like you. No, my son, said the old man, you
have nothing to fear, it is under more stately roofs that confidences are betrayed,
On this assurance the cavalier began his story.
CH, X.—The history of Don Alphonso and the fair Seraphina.
I WILL attempt no disguise from you, my venerable friend, nor from this
gentleman who completes my audience. After the generosity of his conduct to-
wards me, I should be in the wrong to distrust him. You shall know my mis-
fortunes from their beginning. I am a native of Madrid, and came into the
world mysteriously. An officer of the German guard, Baron Steinbach by
name, returning home one evening, espied a bundle of fair linen at the foot of
his staircase. He took it up and carried it to his wife’s apartment, where it
turned out to be a new-born infant, wrapped up in very handsome swaddling-
clothes, with a note containing an assurance that it belonged to persons of con-
dition, who would come forward and own it at some future period; and the
further information that it had been baptized by the name of Alphonso. I was
that unfortunate stranger in the world, and this is all that I know about myself.
Whether honour or profligacy was the motive of the exposure, the helpless child
was equally the victim ; whether my unhappy mother wanted to get rid of me,
to conceal an habitual course of scandalous amours, or whether she had madea
single deviation from the path of virtue with a faithless lover, and had been ob-
liged to protect her fame at the expense of nature and the maternal feelings.
However this might be, the Baron and his wife were touched by my destitute
condition, and resolved, as they had no children of their own, to bring me up
under the name of Don Alphonso. AsI grew in years and stature their attach-
ment to me strengthened. My manners, genteel before strangers and affection-
ate towards them, were the theme of their fondest panegyric. In short, they
loved me as if I had been theirown, Masters of every description were pro-
158 “GIL BLAS.
vided forme. My education became their leading object ; and far from waiting
impatiently till my parents should come forward, they seemed, on the contrary,
to wish that my birth might always remain a mystery. As soon asthe Baron
thought me old enough to bear arms, he sent me into the service. With my
ensign’s commission, 2 . and suitable equipment was provided for me;
and, the more effectually to animate me in the career of glory, my patron
pointed out that the path of honour was open to every adventurer, and that the
renown of a warrior would be so much the more creditable to me, as I should
owe it to none but myself. At the same time he laid open to me the circum-
stances of my birth, which he had hitherto concealed. AsI had passed for
his son in Madrid, and had actually thought myself so, it must be owned that
this communication gave me some uneasiness. I could not then, norcan I even
now, think of it without a sense of shame. In proportion as the innate feelings
of a gentleman bear testimony to the birth of one, am I mortified at being re-
jected and renounced by the unnatural authors of my being.
I went to serve in the Low Countries, but peace was concluded in a short
time ; and Spain finding herself without assailants, though not without assas-
sins, I returned to Madrid, where I received fresh marks of affection from the
Baron and his wife. Rather more than two months after my return, a little
page came into my room one morning, and presented me with a note couched
nearly in the following terms :—‘‘I am neither ugly nor crooked, and yet you
often see me at my window without the tribute of a glance. This conduct is
little in unison with the spirit of your physiognomy, and so far stings me to re-
venge that I will make you love me if possible.”
On the perusal of this epistle, there could be no doubt but it came from a
widow, by name Leonora, who lived opposite our house, and had the character
of a very great coquette. Hereupon I examined my little messenger, who had
a mind to be on the reserve at first, but a ducat in hand opened the floodgates
of his intelligence. He even took charge of an answer to his mistress, confess-
ing my guilt, and intimating that its punishment was far advanced.
I was not insensible to a conquest even of this kind. For the rest of the day
home and my window-seat were the grand attraction ; and the lady seemed to
have fallen in love with her window-seat too. I made signals. She returned
them ; and on the very next day sent me word by her little Mercury, that if I
would be in the street on the following night between eleven and twelve, I
might converse with her at a window on the ground-floor, ‘Though I did not
feel myself very much captivated by so coming on a kind of widow, it was im-
possible not to send such an answer as if I was ; and a sort of amorous curiosity
made me as impatient as if I had really been in love. In the dusk of the even-
ing, I went sauntering up and down the Prado till the hour of assignation.
Before I could get to my appointment, a man mounted ona fine horse alighted
near me, and coming up with a peremptory air—Sir, said he, are not you the
son of Baron Steinbach? I answered in the affirmative. You are the person
then, resumed he, who were to meet Leonora at her window to-night? I have
seen her letters and your answers, her page has put them into my hands, and I
have followed you this evening’from your own house hither, to let you
know you have a rival whose pride is not a little wounded at a competition with
yourself in an affair of the heart. It would be unnecessary to say more. We
are in a retired place, let us therefore draw, unless, to avoid the chastisement
in store for you, you will give me your word to break off all connection with
nora. Sacrifice in my favour all your hopes and interest, or your life must
be the forfeit. It had been better, said I, to have ensured my generosity by
good manners, than to extort my compliance by menaces. I might have
granted to your request what I must refuse to this insolent demand.
HISTORY OF DON ALPHONSO AND SERAPHINA. 159
Well, then, resumed he, tying up his horse and preparing for the encounter,
let us settle our dispute like men. Little could a person of my condition have
stomached the debasement of a request, to a man of your quality. Nine out of
ten in my rank would, under such circumstances, have taken their revenge on
terms of less honour but more safety. I felt myself exasperated at this last in-
sinuation, so that, seeing he had already drawn his sword, mine did not linger
in the scabbard. We fell on one another with so much fury, that the engage-
ment did not last long. Whether his attack was made with too much heat, or
my skill in fencing was superior, he soon received a mortal wound. He stag-
gered, and dropped dead upon the spot. In such a situation, having no alter-
native but an immediate escape, I mounted the horse of my antagonist, and
went off in the direction of Toledo. There was no venturing to return to Baron
Steinbach’s, since, besides the danger of the attempt, the narrative of my ad-
venture from my own mouth would only afflict him the more, so that nothing
was so eligible as an immediate decampment from Madrid.
Chewing the cud of my own melancholy reflection, I travelled onwards the
remainder of the night and all the next morning. But about noon it became
necessary to stop, both for the sake of my horse and to avoid the insupportable
fierceness of the mid-day heat. I staid in a village till sun-set, and then, in-
tending to reach Toledo without drawing bit, went on my way. I had already
got two leagues beyond Illescas, when, about midnight, a storm like that of to-
day overtook me as I was jogging along the road. There was a garden wall
at some little distance, and I rode up to it. For want of any more commodious
shelter, my horse’s station and my own were arranged, as comfortably as cir-
cumstances would admit, near the door of a summer-house at the end of the
wall, with a balcony over it. Leaning against the door, I discovered it to be
open, owing, as I thought, to the negligence of the servants, Having dis-
mounted, less from curiosity than for the sake of a better standing, as the rain
had been very troublesome under the balcony, I went into the lower part of the
summer-house, leading my horse by the bridle.
My amusement during the storm was in reconnoitring my quarters; and
though I had nothing to form an opinion by, but the lurid gleams of the light-
ning, it was very evident that such a house must belong to some family above
the common. I was waiting anxiously till the rain abated, to set forward again
on my journey; but a great light at a distance made me change my purpose.
Leaving my horse in the summer-house, with the precaution of fastening the
door, I made for the light, in the assurance that they were not all gone to bed
in the house, and with the intention of requesting a lodging for the night.
After crossing several walks, I came toa saloon, and here too the door was
left open. On my entrance, from the magnificence so handsomely displayed
by the light of a fine crystal lustre, it was easy to conclude that this must be
the residence of some illustrious nobleman. The pavement was of marble,
the wainscot richly carved and gilt, the proportions of architecture tastefully
preserved, and the ceiling evidently adorned by the masterpieces of the first
artists in fresco. But what particularly engaged my attention was a great
number of busts, and those of Spanish heroes, supported on jasper pedestals,
and ranged round the saloon. There was opportunity enough for examining
all this splendour, since there was not even a foot-fall, nor the shadow of any
one gliding along the passage, though my ears and eyes were incessantly on the
watch for some inhabitant of this fairy desert.
On one side of the saloon there was a door a-jar; by pushing it a little
wider open, I discovered a range of apartments, with a light only in the fur-
thest. What is to be done now? thought I within myself. Shall I go back, or
take the liberty of marching forward, even to that chamber? To be sure, it was
160 GIL BLAS.
obvious that the most prudent step would be to make good my retreat; but
curiosity was not to be repelled, or rather, to speak more truly, my star was in
its ascendant. Advancing boldly from room to room, at length I reached that
where the light was. It was a wax taper ona marble slab, in a magnificent
candlestick. The first object that caught my eye was the gay furniture of this
summer abode; but soon afterwards, casting a look towards a bed, of which
the curtains were half undrawn on account of the heat, an object arrested my
attention, which engrossed it with the deepest interest. A young lady, in spite
of the thunderclaps which had been pealing round her, was sleeping there,
motionless and undisturbed. I approached her very gently, and by the light
of the taper I had seized, a complexion and features the most dazzling were
submitted to my gaze. My spirits were all afloat at the discovery. A sensa-
tion of transport and delight came over me; but however my feelings might
harass my own heart, my conviction of her high birth checked every presump-
tuous hope, and awe obtained a complete victory over desire. While I was
drinking in floods of adoration at the shrine of her beauty, the goddess of my
homage awoke.
You may well suppose her consternation, at seeing a man, an utter stranger,
in her bedchamber, and at midnight. She was terrified at this strange appear-
ance, and uttered a loud shriek. I did my best to restore her composure, and
throwing myself on my knees in the humblest posture, Madam, said I, fear
nothing. My business here is not to hurt you. I was going on, but her alarm
was so great that she was incapable of hearing my excuses. She called her
. woman with a most vehement importunity, and as she could get no answer,
she threw over her a thin night-gown at the foot of the bed, rushed rapidly out
of the room, and darted into the apartments I had crossed, still calling her
female establishment about her, as well as a younger sister whom she had under
her care. I looked for nothing less than a posse of strapping footmen who
were likely, without hearing my defence, to execute summary justice on so
audacious a culprit; but by good luck, at least for me, her cries were to no
purpose ; they only roused an old domestic, who would have been but a sorry
knight had any ravisher or magician invaded her repose. Nevertheless, assum-
ing somewhat of courage from his presence, she asked me haughtily who I was,
by what inlet and to what purpose I had presumptuously gained admission into
her house. I began then to enter on my exculpation, and had no sooner
declared that the open door of the summer-house in the garden had invited
my entrance, than she exclaimed as if thunderstruck—Just heaven! what an
idea darts across my mind !
As she uttered these words, she caught at the wax light on the table; then
ran through all the apartments one after another, without finding either her
attendants or her sister. She remarked, too, that all their personals and ward-
robe were carried off. With such a comment on her hasty suspicions, she came
up to me and said, in the hurried accent of suspense and perturbation: Traitor !
add not hypocrisy to your other crimes. Chance has not brought you hither.
You are in the train of Don Ferdinand de Leyva, and are an accomplice in his
guilt, But hope not to escape, there are still people enough about me to secure
you. Madam, said I, do not confound me ith your enemies. Don F erdi-
nand de Leyva is a stranger to me; I do not even know who Mis are. You
see before you an outcast, whom an affair of honour has compelled to fly from
Madrid ; and I swear by whatever is most sacred among men, that had not a
storm overtaken me, I should never have set my foot over your threshold.
Entertain, then, a more favourable opinion of me. So far from suspecting me
for an accomplice in any plot against you, believe me ready to enlist in your
defence, and to revenge your wrongs, These last words, and still more the
HISTORY OF DON ALPHONSO AND SERAPHINA.. 161
sincere tone in which they were delivered, convinced the lady of my innocence,
and she seemed no longer to look on me as her enemy ; but if her anger abated
it was only that her grief might sway more absolutely. She began weeping
most bitterly. Her tears called forth my sympathy, and my affliction was
scarcely less poignant than her own, though the cause of this contagious sorrow
was still to be ascertained. Yet it was not enough to mingle my tears with
hers ; in my impatience to become her defender and avenger, an impulse of
terrific fury came over me. Madam, exclaimed I, what outrage have you
sustained ? Let me know it, and your injuries are mine. Would you have me
hunt out Don Ferdinand, and stab him to the heart? Only tell me on whom
your justice would fall, and they shall suffer. You have only to give the word.
Whatever dangers, whatever certain evils may be attendant on the execution
of your orders, the unknown, whom you thought to be in league with your
enemies, will brave them all in your cause.
This enraptured devotion surprised the lady, and stopped the flowing of her
tears, Ah! sir, said she, forgive this suspicion, and attribute it to the blindness
of my cruel fate. A nobility of sentiment like this speaks at once to the heart
of Seraphina: and while it undeceives, makes me the less repine at a stranger
being witness of an affront offered to my family. Yes, I own my error, and
revolt not, unknown as you are, from your proffered aid. But the death of
Don Ferdinand is not what I require. Well, then, madam, resumed I, of
what nature are the services you would enjoin me? Sir, replied Seraphina, the
ground of my complaint is this: Don Ferdinand de Leyva is enamoured of my
sister Julia, whom he met with by accident at Toledo, where we for the most
part reside, ‘Three months since, he asked her in marriage of the Count de
Polan, my father, who refused his consent on account of an old grudge subsist-
ing between the families. My sister is not yet fifteen, she must have been
indiscreet enough to follow the evil counsels of my woman, whom Doa Ferdi-
nand has doubtless bribed ; and this daring ruffian, advertised of our being
alone at our country-house, has taken the opportunity of carrying off Julia.
At least I should like to know what hiding-place he has chosen to deposit her
in, that my father and my brother, who have been these two months at Madrid,
may take their measures accordingly. For heaven’s sake, added she, give
yourself the trouble of examining the neighbourhood of Toledo, an act so
heinous cannot escape detection, and my family will owe you a debt of ever-
lasting gratitude.
The lady was little aware how unseasonable an employment she was thrusting
upon me. My escape from Castile could not be too soon effected ; and yet
how should such a reflection ever enter into her head, when it was completely
superseded in mine by a more powerful suggestion ? "Delighted at finding my-
self important to the most lovely creature in the universe, I caught at the com-
mission with eagerness, and promised to acquit myself of it with equal zeal and
industry. In fact, I did not wait for daybreak, to go about fulfilling my engage-
ment. <A hasty leave of Seraphina gave me occasion to beg her pardon for the
alarm I had caused her, and to assure her that she should speedily hear some-
what of my adventure, I went out as I came in, but so wrapped up in admira-
tion of the lady, that it was palpable I was completely caught. My sense of
this truth was the more confirmed, by the eagerness with which I embarked in
her cause, and by the romantic, gaily-coloured bubbles which my passion blew.
It struck my fancy that Seraphina, though engrossed by her affliction, had
remarked the hasty birth of my love, without being displeased at the discovery.
I even flattered myself that if I could furnish her with any certain intelligence
of her sister, and the business should terminate in any degree to her satisfaction,
my part in it would be remembered to my advantage.
n
162 GIL BLAS.
Don Alphonso broke the thread of his discourse at this passage, and said to
our aged host: I beg your pardon, father, if the fulness of my passion should
lead me to dilate too long upon particulars, wearisome and uninteresting to a
stranger. No, my son, replied the hermit, such particulars are not wearisome :
I am interested to know the state and progress of your passion for the young
lady you are speaking of ; my counsels will be influenced by the minute detail
you are giving me.
With my fancy heated by these seductive images, resumed the young man, I
was two days hunting after Julia’s ravisher: but in vain were all the inquiries
that could be made; by no means I could devise was the least trace of him to
be discovered. Deeply mortified at the unsuccessful issue of my search, I bent
my steps back to Seraphina, whom I pictured to myself as overwhelmed with
uneasiness, Yet she was in better spirits than might have been expected. She
informed me that her success had been better than mine; for she had learned
how her sister was disposed of. She had received a letter from Don Ferdinand
himself, importing that after being privately married to Julia, he had placed
her in a convent at Toledo. I have sent his letter to my father, pursued
Seraphina. I hope the affair may be adjusted amicably, and that a solemn
marriage will soon extinguish the feuds which have so long kept our respective’
families at variance,
When the lady had thus informed me of her sister’s fate, she began making
an apology for the trouble she had given me, as well as the danger into which
she might imprudently have thrown me, by engaging my services in pursuit of
a ravisher, without recollecting what I had told her, that an affair of honour
had been the occasion of my flight. Her excuses were couched in such flattering
terms, as to convert her very oversight into an obligation, As rest was desir-
able for me after my journey, she conducted me into the saloon, where we sat
down together. She wore an undress gown of white taffety with black stripes,
and a little hat of the same materials with black feathers ; which gave me reason
to suppose that she might be a widow. But she looked so young, that I
scarcely knew what to think of it.
If I was all impatient to get at her history, she was not less so to know who
Iwas. She besought me to acquaint her with my name, not doubting, as she
kindly expressed it, by my noble air, and still more by the generous pity which
had made me enter so warmly into her interests, that I belonged to some con-
siderable family. ‘The question was not a little perplexing. My colour came
and went, my agitation was extreme: and I must own that, with less repug-
nance to the meanness of a falsehood than to the acknowledgment of a dis-
graceful truth, I answered that I was the son of Baron Steinbach, an officer of
the German guard. Tell me, likewise, resumed the lady, why you left Madrid.
Before you answer my question, I will insure you all my father’s credit, as
well as that of my brother Don Gaspard. It is the least mark of gratitude I
can bestow on a gentleman who, for my service, has neglected the preservation
even of his own life. Without further hesitation, I acquainted her with all the
circumstances of my rencounter: she laid the whole blame on my deceased
antagonist, and engaged to interest all her family in my favour.
When I had satished her curiosity, it seemed not unreasonable to plead in
favour of my own. I inquired whether she was maid, wife, or widow. It is
three years, answered she, since my father made me marry Don Diego de
Lara ; and I have been a widow these fifteen months. Madam, said I, by
what misfortune were your wedded joys so soon interrupted? I am going to
inform you, sir, resumed the lady, in return for the confidence you have reposed
in me.
Don Diego de Lara was a very elegant and accomplished gentleman : but,
HISTORY OF DON ALPHONSO AND SERAPHINA. 163
though his affection for me was extreme, and every day was witness to some
attempt at giving me pleasure, such as the most impassioned and most tender
lover puts in practice to win the smile of her he loves ; though he had a thou-
sand estimable qualities, my heart was untouched by all his merit. Love is
not always the offspring either of assiduity or desert. Alas! we are often cap-
tivated at first sight by we know not whom, nor why, nor how. To love, then,
was not in my power. More disconcerted than gratified by his repeated offices
of tenderness, which I received with a forced courtesy, but without real plea-
sure, if I accused myself in secret of ingratitude, I still thought myself an object
as much of pity as of censure. To his unhappiness and my own, his delicacy
more than kept pace with his affection. Not an action ora speech of mine,
but he unravelled all its hidden motives, and fathomed all my thoughts, almost
before they arose. The inmost recesses of my heart were laid open to his
penetration, He complained without ceasing of my indifference; and esteemed
himself only so much the more unfortunate, in not being able to please me, as
he was well assured that no rival stood in his way; for I was scarcely sixteen
years old ; and, before he paid his addresses to me, he had tampered with my
women, who had assured him that no one had hitherto attracted my attention.
Yes, Seraphina, he would often say, I could have been contented that you had
preferred some other to myself, and that there were no more fatal cause of your
insensibility. My attentions and your own principles would get the better of
such a juvenile prepossession ; but I despair of triumphing over your coldness,
since your heart is impenetrable to all the love I have lavished on you.
Wearied with the repetition of the same strain, I told him that instead of dis-
turbing his repose and mine by this excess of delicacy, he would do better in
trusting to the effects of time. In fact, at my age, I could not be expected to
enter into the refinements of so sentimental a passion ; and Don Diego should
have waited, as I warned him, for a riper period and more staid reflection.
But, finding that a whole year had elapsed, and that he was no forwarder in
my favour than on the first day, he lost all patience, or rather, his brain became
distracted. Affecting to have important business at court, he took his leave,
and went to serve as a volunteer in the Low Countries ; where he soon found
in the chances of war what he went to seek, the terminations of his sufferings
and of his life.
After the lady had finished her recital, her husband’s uncommon character
became the topic of our discourse. We were interrupted by the arrival of a
courier, charged with a letter for Seraphina from the Count De Polan. She
begged my permission to read it ; and as she went on, I observed her to grow
pale, and to become dreadfully agitated. When she had finished, she raised
her eyes upward, heaved a long sigh, and her face was in a moment bathed
with her tears. Her sorrow sat heavily on my feelings. My spirits were
greatly disturbed ; and, as if it were a forewarning of the blow impending over
my head, a death-like shudder crept through my frame, and my faculties were
all benumbed. Madam, said I, in accents half choked with apprehension, may
I ask of what dire events that letter brings the tidings? Take it, sir, answered
Seraphina most dolefully, while she held out the letter to me. Read for
yourself what my father has written. Alas! you are but too deeply concerned
in the contents.
At these words, which made my blood run cold, I took the letter with a
trembling hand, and found in it the following intelligence: ‘‘ Your brother, Don
Gaspard, fought yesterday at the Prado. He received a small sword wound,
of which he died this day: and declared, before he breathed his last, that his
antagonist was the son of Baron Steinbach, an officer of the German guard.
As misfortunes never come alone, the murderer has eluded my vengeance by
164 GIL BLAS.
flight, but wherever he may have concealed himself, no pains shall be spared
to hunt him out. I am going to write to the magistrates all round the country,
who will not fail to take him into custody, if he passes through any one of
the towns in their jurisdiction, and by the notices I am going to circulate, I
hope to cut off his retreat in the country or at the sea-ports. -THE COUNT DE
POLAN.
Conceive into what a ferment this letter threw all my thoughts. I re-
mained for some moments motionless and without the power of speech. In
the midst of my confusion, I too plainly saw the destructive bearing of Don
Gaspard’s death on the passion I had imbibed. My despair was unbounded at -
the thought. I threw myself at Seraphina’s feet, and offering her my naked
sword, Madam, said I, spare the Count de Polan the necessity of seeking fur-
ther for a man who might possibly withdraw himself from his resentment. Be
yourself the avenger of your brother: offer up his murderer as the victim of
your own hand: now, strike the blow. Let this very weapon which termin-
ated his life, cut short the sad remnant of his adversary’s days. Sir, answered
Seraphina, a little softened by my behaviour, I loved Don Gaspard, so that
though you killed him in fair and manly hostility, and though he brought his
death upon himself, vou may rest assured that I take up my father’s quarrel.
Yes, Don Alphonso, I am your decided enemy, and will do agains you all that
the ties of blood and friendship require at my hands. But I will not take ad-
vantage of your evil star: in vain has it delivered you into my grasp: if honour
arms me against you, the same sentiment forbids to pursue a cowardly revenge.
The rights of hospitality must be inviolable, and I will not repay such service
as you have rendered me with the treachery of an assassin. F ly! make your
escape, if you can, from our pursuit and from the rigour of the laws, and save
your forfeit life from the dangers that beset it.
What, then! madam, returned I, when vengeance is in your own hands, do
you turn it over to the laws, which may, perhaps, be too slow for your impa-
tience? Nay! rather stab a wretch who is not worthy of your forbearance,
No, madam, maintain not so noble and so generous a proceeding with one like
me. Do you know whol am? All Madrid takes me for Baron Steinbach’s
son—yet am I nothing better than a foundling, whom he brought up from
charity. I know not even who were guilty of my existence. No matter, inter-
rupted Seraphina, with precipitation, as if my last words had given her new
uneasiness, though you were the lowest of mankind I would do what honour
bids. Well, madam, said I, since a brother’s death is insufficient to excite
your thirst after my blood, I will exasperate your hatred still further by a new
offence, of which I trust you will never pardon the boldness, I dote on you:
I could not behold your charms without being dazzled by them : and, in spite
of the cloud in which my destiny was enveloped, I had cherished the hope of
being united to you. I was so infatuated by my passion, or rather by my
pride, as to flatter myself that heaven, which perhaps conceals from me my
birth in mercy, might discover it one day, and enable me without a blush to
acquaint you with my real name. After this injurious avowal, can you hesitate
a moment about punishing me?
This rash declaration, replied the lady, would doubtless prove offensive at any
other season ; but I forgive it in consideration of the trouble which bewilders
you. Besides, my own condition so engrosses me, as to render me deaf to any
strange ideas that may escape you. Once more, Don Alphonso, added she,
shedding tears, begone far from a house which you have cast into mourning :
every moment of your longer stay adds pungency to my distress. I no longer
oppose your will, madam, returned I, preparing to take my leave: absence
from you must then be my portion: but do not suppose that, anxious for the
THE HERMIT’S ADVICE TO DON ALPHONSO. 165
preservation of a life which is become hateful to you, I go to seek an asylum
where I may be sheltered from your search. No, no, I bare my breast to your
resentment. I shall wait with impatience at Toledo for the fate which you de-
sign me ; and by surrendering at once to my pursuers, shall myself forward the
completion of my miseries,
At the conclusion of this speech I withdrew. My horse was returned to me,
and I went to Toledo, where I abode eight days, and really with so little care
to conceal myself that I know not how or why I have escaped an arrest ; for I
cannot suppose that the Count de Polan, whose whole soul is set on cutting off
my retreat, should not have been aware that I was likely to pass through
Toledo. Yesterday I left that town, where it should seem as if I was tired of
my liberty, and without betaking myself to any fixed course of travelling, I
came to this hermitage, like a man who had no reason to be ashamed of shew-
ing himself. Such, father, was the cause of my absence and distraction. I
beseech you to assist me with your counsels.
Cu. X1.—TZhe old hermit turns out an extraordinary genius, and Gil Blas
jinds himself among his former acquaintance.
WHEN Don Alphonso had concluded the melancholy recital of his misfortunes,
the old hermit said to him—My son, you have been excessively rash in tarrying
so long at Toledo. I consider in a very different light from that you affect to
place it in, what you have told me of your story ; and your love for Seraphina
seems to me to be sheer madness. Take my word for it, you will do well to
cancel that young lady from your remembrance ; she never can be of your com-
munion. Retreat like a skilful general, when you cannot act with effect on the
offensive ; and pursue your fortune on another field, where success may smile
on your endeavours. You will be terribly out of luck to kill the brother of the next
young lady who may chance to succeed this only possible object of your affection.
He was going to add many other inducements to resignation, in such a case
as Don Alphonso’s, when we saw another hermit enter our retreat, with a
well-stuffed wallet slung across his shoulders, He was on his return, with the
charitable contributions of all the good folks in the town of Cuenca ; and the
gathering did credit to the religion of the age. He looked younger than his
companion, in spite of his thick, foxy beard. Welcome home, brother Antony,
said the elder of the two recluses ; what news do you bring us from town?
Bad enough, answered the carroty friar, putting into his hands a paper, folded
in the form of a letter ; this little instrument will inform you. The hoary sage
opened it, and after reading on with an increased attention, as the contents
seemed to grow more interesting, exclaimed: Heaven’s will be done! Since
the combustion is anticipated, we have only to fall in with the humour of our
fate. Let us change our dialect, Signor Don Alphonso! pursued he, address-
ing his discourse to my young companion: you behold in me a man, like your-
self, who has been a broad mark for the wantonness of fortune to take aim at.
Word is sent me from Cuenca, a town at the distance of a league hence, that
some backbiter has been blackening my fair fame in the esteem of justice; who
is coming with her hue and cry to disturb the repose of these rural scenes, and
to lay her paw upon my person. But an old fox is too cunning to be caught in
atrap. ‘This is not the first time that I have cut and run before the blood-
hounds of the law. But, thanks to myself for having my wits about me, I have
always ended the chase in a whole skin, and held myself in readiness for
another. It is now time to assume another form; for, whether you like me
best in my old skin or my new, I cast my hermit’s decrepit slough, to bask in
the sunshine of youth and vigour.
166 GIL BLAS.
To suit the action to the word, he threw off the incumbrance of his eccle-
siastical petticoat, and stood forth to view in a doublet of black serge with
slashed SR Then off went his cap, and snap went a string, which sup-
ported the hoary honours of a beard, and our anchorite was at once transformed
to a brawny ruffian of eight-and-twenty or thirty. Brother Antony, following
a good example, discarded the outward show of religion, treated his fiery beard
as the snowy one had been handled just before, and pulled out of an old
worm-eaten trunk a sorry rag of a cassock, with which he invested his person.
But what words can express my surprise, when Signor Don Raphael presented
himself to my view, like a phoenix from the ashes of the old bead-counter !
To complete the trick of the pantomime, brother Antony was turned into my
faithful vassal and trusty squire, Ambrose de Lamela. Here are miracles!
exclaimed I in a quandary ; as far as I can perceive, we are all hail fellow well
met! You never were more lucky in your life, Signor Gil Blas, said Don
Raphael, with a brazenfaced good humour: you have fallen among old friends
when you least expected it. It must be owned you have a crow to pluck with
us; but let the past be buried in oblivion, and thank heaven, here we are
together again. Ambrose and I will serve under your banner ; and'let me tell
you, you will have subalterns of no contemptible prowess. You may object
to our morals ; but they are better in the main than many a hypocrite’s preten-
sions. We never assassinate, and rarely maltreat: and that in pure self-
defence. The only liberty we take with society is to live at free quarters : and
though robbery may be considered as containing some little spice of injustice,
the necessity we labour under of committing it restores its equilibrium to the
scale, Even join your fortune with ours: you will lead a life of hazard, but of
variety. Our predatory pareve have every pastoral beauty except inno-
cence, and the want of that is more than counterpoised by subtlety cal strata-
gem. Not but, with all our forecast, a certain mechanical concatenation of
second causes sometimes frustrates our best-concerted projects, and drags our
philosophy through the mire. But a ducking now and then only makes us
swim the better. The seasons must all be taken in their turns ; the blanks as
well as the prizes must be drawn in the cheating lottery of life,
Courteous stranger, pursued the pretended hermit, speaking to Don Alphonso,
we extend the proposal of partnership to you, and it may be a question whether
you will better yourself by rejecting it, in the lamentable condition of your
affairs ; for, to say nothing of the chance-medley for which you are at hide and
seek, your fortune is probably a little out at elbows. Most lamentably so,
said Don Alphonso ; and hence, since the truth must out, are my forebodings
more dark than even my present evils. That is the very thing! replied Don
Raphael. You were sent by our better genius to join the party. You will
find no such good berth in the honest part of the world. Your wants will all
be supplied, and you may laugh at the vigilance of your pursuers. There is
not a corner in all Spain which we have not ferreted out; those who are
always on the scamper see a great deal of the country. We are perfect con-
noisseurs in landscape, and affect Salvator Rosa’s rugged scenery. ‘There we
graze in peace and freedom, secure from the brutality of justice. Don Alphonso
expressed himself very much obliged to them for their kind invitation ; and
finding neither money in his purse, nor contrivance to procure it in his peri-
cranium, made up his mind at once not to stand upon punctilio with morality.
I too was led into a looser course than agreed with my rigid pes. by a
growing friendship for this young man, whom I could not find in my heart to
abandon in so perilous an enterprise.
We all four agreed to set off ina body, and never to part company. The
question was put whether we should sound a retreat on the instant, or first give
THE HERMIT TAKES TO FLIGHT. 167
a. peremptory summons to a flagon of excellent wine, which brother Antony had
invested by regular approaches at Cuenca the day before; but Raphael, a more
experienced general than any of us, represented that the first thing to be done
was to render our own camp impregnable, for which purpose he proposed that
we should march all night, to gain a very thick wood between Villardesa and
Almodabar, where we should halt, as in a friendly country, and recruit after the
fatigues of the campaign. These general orders were approved of in council,
Our lay hermits then went about packing up their baggage and provisions, which
were swung in two bundles across the back of Don Alphonso’s horse. We
were not long in our preparations, after which we sheered off from the hermit-
age, leaving a rich booty to legal rapine in the saintly paraphernalia of the two
hermits ; including a white beard and a red one, two rickety bedsteads, a table
without a leg, a chest without a bottom, two chairs without any seats, and an
unmutilated image of St Pacomo.
Our march was continued the whole night, and we began to chafe and feel
other inconveniences, when at daybreak we hailed the wood where our toils
were to end. Sailors after a long voyage work the ship with double alacrity at
sight of their native land. So it was with us, we pushed forward and got to our
journey’s end by sunrise. Dashing into the thickest of the wood, we pitched
upon a retired and pleasant spot, where the turf was circled in by tall and branch-
ing oaks, whose gigantic limbs, interwoven over our heads, formed a natural vault,
not to be penetrated even by noon-day heat. We took the bridle off the horse |
to let him feed after he was unloaded. Then down we sat, pulling out of bro-
ther Antony’s wallet some large pieces of bread and good substantial slices of
roast meat, at which we began pegging with all possible pertinacity. Never-
theless, let our appetites be as obstinate as they might, we every now and then
suspended the fray to spar a little with the flagon, which returned our blows till
it made us reel again.
About the end of the conflict, Don Raphael said to Don Alphonso—My
brave comrade, after the confidence you have reposed in me, it is but fair that
in my turn I should recount the history of my life to you with.the same sincerity.
You will do me a great favour, answered the young man; and an equal one to
me, chimed in I. My curiosity is all alive to know your adventures, for doubtless
they must afford much matter of useful speculation. You may rest assured of
that, replied Don Raphael ; and I mean to leave behind me a history of my own
times. The composition shall be the amusement of my old age, for I am as
yet in the prime of life, and mean to furnish in propria persona many new hints
for my commonplace-book. But we are all weary, let us recruit with some
hours of sleep. While we three lie down, Ambrose shall keep watch for fear of
a surprise, and shall then take a nap in his turn. For though, to all appearance,
we are here in perfect safety, it is always good to keep a sentry at the out-posts.
After this precaution he stretched himself along upon the grass. Don Alphonso
did the same. I followed their example, and Lamela performed the office of a
scout.
Don Alphonso, so far from getting any rest, was incessantly brooding over his
misfortunes, and I could not get a wink of sleep. As for Don Raphael, he
snored most sonorously. But he awoke in little more than an hour, when, find-
ing us in a listening mood, he said to Lamela—My friend Ambrose, you may
now yield to the gentle influence of Morpheus. No, no, answered Lamela, my
sleepy fit is over; and though I know all the passages of your life by rote, they
are so instructive to the practitioners of our art and mystery, that I do not care
how often I hear the tale over again. Without further preface, Don Raphael
began the narrative of his adventures in these terms.
168 GIL BLAS.
BOOK THE FIFTH.
Cu. I.—History of Don Raphael.
I MADE my entrance on the stage of life at Madrid, where my mother was an
actress, famous for dramatic, and infamous for her intriguing talents. Her
name was Lucinda. As for my father, every man must have one; but my arith-
metic is too scanty to determine the number of mine. It might indeed be a
matter of history, that such or such a manof fashion was dangling after my
mother at the epoch of my arrival in this system; but then, that mere fact would
by no means warrant a deduction that any individual gallant of the mother must
therefore be the father of the child. A lady, so eminent as she was in so noto-
rious and wholesale a profession, must have many strings to her bow; where
her blandishments are most publicly lavished, her favours are most sparingly
bestowed: there is a show article or two for public exhibition, but her i Bae
wares are cheap, and hackneyed to the meanest purchaser.
There is nothing like taking scandal by the beard, and treating the opinion
of the world with heroic indifference. Lucinda, instead of cooping me up in a
garret at home, made no scruple about owning her little bastard, but took me
in her hand to the theatre with a modest assurance, regardless how the tongue
of rumour might babble at her expense, or how the laugh of malice might peal
at my unlucky appearance, In short, I was her pet, and came in for the caresses
of all the men who frequented the house. One would have sworn that nature
pleaded in my favour, and inspired each of them with a father’s pride in the brat
they had clubbed for. The twelve first years of my life were suffered to waste
away in all kinds of frivolous amusements. Scarcely did they teach me to read
and write. Still less was it thought of any consequence to initiate me in the
principles of my religion. To dance, to sing, to play on the guitar, was the sum
total of my early attainments. With these gifts and graces for my only acqui-
sitions, the Marquis of Leganez asked for me to be about his only son, who
was nearly of my own age. Lucinda gave her consent without reluctance, and
it was then that I began to mind a little what I was about. Young Leganez
could not reproach me with my ignorance, his little lordship was not cast in a
scientific mould, for he scarcely knew a letter of his alphabet, though he had been
under private tuition for fifteen months, None of his masters could make any-
_ thing of him, patience was never formed to engage in so unequal a match. To
be sure, they were expressly forbid to exercise any severity on his noble carcase,
their orders were to teach, not to torture him; and this tender precaution, act-
ing on a subject of insufferably untoward dispositions, was the means of throw-
ing to the dogs all the mental physic they poured in ; he would none of it.
But the verb-grinder engendered in his noddle a most ingenious device, by
which to keep this troublesome young lordling in awe, without trenching on his
foolish father’s injunctions. This scheme was no other than to flog me when-
ever that scape-grace Leganez had incurred the penalty of the rod, and this
vicarious execution was inflicted with the utmost rigour. My consent to the
transfer had never been asked, and there was nothing in the act itself to recom-
mend it; so that my only chance was to run away, and appeal to my mother
against so arbitrary a discipline, However her maternal fe might inwardly
revolt, no trace of woman’s weakness could be detected in her manner of re-
ceiving my complaint. The Leganez connection was too important to be lost
for a few whippings ; and away went she, dragging her culprit into the presence
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL. 169
of his tormentor, who by this act of hers became master of broom field. Ex-
erience had convinced him that the success of his invention corresponded with
its felicity. He therefore went on improving the mind and manners of the little
dee at the expense of my skin. Remorse for his delinquencies was to be
excited only by sympathy; so that whenever it became necessary to make a
bloody example, my seat of vengeance was firked most unmercifully. The
running account between young Leganez and me was all on one side, and scarcely
a day passed but he sinned on tick and suffered by attorney. By the nearest
calculation of whole numbers, there went somewhere about a hundred cuts to
teach him each single letter of the alphabet; so that if you multiply 100 by 24
for stupidity, and add an o to the amount for moral offences, you will have the
sum total of the belabouring that his education cost me.
This thick and threefold companionship with birch was not the only rub ; my
path through this family was more beset with thorns than sweetened by flowers.
As my birth and connections were no secret, the whole of the establishment,
to the very refuse of the household, the stable-boys and scullions, twitted me
with my shameful origin. ‘This stuck so terribly in my throat that I made my
escape once more, but not without borrowing my tutor’s ready money, amount-
ing to upwards of a hundred and fifty ducats, for an indefinite period, and with-
out interest. Thus was the account settled between us, since he had made a
property of my hide for a scarecrow, it was but fair that I should have a finger
in the earnings of his arm. For a first attempt at thieving both the plan and
execution were hopeful. A hue and cry was raised for two days, it was hot
while it lasted, but I lay snug, and they missed me. Madrid was no longer a
fit hiding-place, so I took to cover in Toledo, and the hounds were thrown
out.
I was just then entering into my fifteenth year. What a happy fellow, at
such an early age, to shape my own conduct and be in a condition of forming a
set of morals for myself! I soon scraped acquaintance with some pleasant
youths, who rescued me from the dominion of prejudice, and shared liberally
with me in the sin of spending what was not my own. By degrees I rose in
society and leagued myself with a set of professional sharpers, who found me
so fine a subject to work upon, that a short time, with plenty of practice, put
me in possession of all the most desperate jobs. At the expiration of five years,
an itch for travelling laid hold of me. I therefore took leave of my comrades
and got as far as Alcantara, wishing to commence my peregrinations with the
province of Estremadura. In this my first excursion, an opportunity of keep-
ing in my hand occurred ; and I was too diligent a practitioner to let it escape.
As I was on foot, and loaded moreover with a pretty heavy knapsack, I halted
from time to time to avail myself of the shade, and recruit a little under the
trees which lined the highway. At one of these baits I picked up two young
gentlemen, who were chatting at their ease upon the grass, and inhaling the
freshness of the breeze. My mode of accosting them was suited to the occasion ;
nor did its familiarity seem to be taken in ill part. The eldest could not
be more than fifteen—a couple of as practicable greenhorns as ever fell into the
hands of a man of genius. Courteous stranger, said the youngest, we are the
sons of two rich citizens at Placentia. Longing extremely to see the kingdom
of Portugal, we have each of us begged a hundred pistoles from our friends,
and are setting out to satisfy our curiosity. Travelling on foot as we do, we
shall be able to get a good way with that supply, shall we not? What do you
think of it? If I had as much, answered I, they might take me who could
catch me, I would scour over the four known quarters of the globe, and then «
set out on new discoveries. Fire and fury! Two hundred pistoles! Why it
is an entail fora dukedom! You ought to lay by out of the interest. If it is
170 GIL BLAS.
agreeable to you, gentlemen, I will club with you as far as Almeria, whither I
am going to take possession of an estate left me by an uncle who was settled
there for twenty years or upwards,
My young cockneys testified at once the pleasure they should derive from my
company. Whereupon, when we were all three a little refreshed, we trudged
on towards Alcantara, where we arrived early in the afternoon. No inn but
the best was fit to hold such guests. We asked for a room, and were shown
into one where there was a press with a good strong lock upon it. Supper was
ordered without delay ; but as some time was required to get it ready, I pro-
posed to my travelling companions a gentle saunter about the town. The party
seemed perfectly agreeable. We locked up our knapsacks in the press, the
key of which one of the citizens put in his pocket, and out sallied we from the
inn. The churches were the best lions we met with in our way ; and while we
were gaping about the principal, I pretended to have recollected on a sudden
some very urgent business, Gentlemen, said I to my companions, it has just
come across me that a good man of Toledo gave me a commission to say two
words on his behalf to a merchant who lives hard by this church. Have the
goodness to wait for me here, I will be back ina moment. With this excuse,
I went off like a shot, in the direction of our inn, The press was my point of
attack—I forced the lock, ransacked the baggage of my young citizens, and
laid a sacrilegious hand on their pistoles. Poor youths! Flow they were to
pay their reckoning, it was not for me to presume even to guess, for most as-
suredly I stripped them of all the natural means. After this feat, I decamped
as expeditiously as my legs could carry me from the town, and took the direc-
tion of Merida, without caring a curse what became of the young brood I had
lucked.
Such a windfall as this placed me in a condition of travelling merrily.
Though in the very blush of youth, a certain forecast was not wanting to carry
me discreetly through the world, and keep my head above water. It must be
admitted without question, that I was a youth of forward parts for my age, and
unfettered by the prejudices of innocence. [I determined to buy a mule, and
cheapened one at the first market town. My knapsack was metamorphosed
into a portmanteau, and by degrees I began to put on the man of consequence.
On the third day a man came across me singing vespers with lungs like a pair
of bellows on the highway. By his air, he seemed to be a musician of the
church establishment, and I accosted him accordingly. Well done, my holy
howler of the hallelujahs ! You sing your penitential ditties at a good jovial pitch.
To all appearance you sol-fa with your whole heart and soul. Good sir, re-
plied he, I belong, with your good leave, to the musical department of the
Catholic church : and it is my common practice to keep my devotion and my
wind in play by the rehearsal of an anthem or two as I travel along the road.
With this disposition to be sociable, we soon got into conversation. It was
clear to me that I had fallen in with a character not to be despised in point of
shrewdness, nor indisposed to society and merriment. He was four or five-and-
twenty. My companion being on foot, I slackened my pace, for the pleasure
of chatting with him. Among other things, we talked about Toledo. I am per-
fectly well acquainted with that city, said the brazen-lunged torturer of anthems.
It was my residence for a considerable time, and my connections there are not
altogether contemptible. And in what part of the town, interrupted I, did you
reside? In the New Street, was his answer. I was hand in glove with Don
Vincent de Buena Garra, Don Matthias de Cordello, and two or three other
gentlemen of very considerable fashion. We lived together ; took our meals at
the same mess, and, in short, were scarcely ever asunder. It was a charming
_ society! This avowal was no small surprise to me, for it is to be understood,
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL. 171
that the gentlemen whose names he cited with so pompous an air were the very
sharpers with whom I had been affiliated at Toledo. Why, thou degenerate
vicar choral ! exclaimed I, these fine blades of whom thou hast been boasting
. are among the number of my acquaintance also, for I too have lived with them
in the New Street ; we were hand in glove, took our meals at the same mess,
and, in short, were scarcely ever asunder. You are a wag! replied he, witha
knowing wink, that is to say, you got into the gang three years ago, when I left
it. My motive for quitting sucha worshipful fraternity, resumed I, was an itch
for travelling. I mean to make the tour of Spain. A little more knowledge
of the world will make me quite another thing. Doubtless, said he, there is no
possible way but travelling to rub off the rust, or bring wit, talent, and address
to perfection. It is for the self-same reason that I too turned my back upon Tole-
do, though the time glided away there very agreeably. But thanks to a kind
providence, which has yoked me with a labourer in my own vineyard, when I
least expected it. Let us join our forces, let us travel the same road, let us
make a joint-stock out of our neighbours’ purses, let us rob, let us cheat, let us
avail ourselves of every opportunity that may offer of exemplifying our theory,
and improving our practice, in the noble art on which our skill is employed.
The proposal was made in so candid a spirit, so like a citizen of the world,
untainted with the selfishness of your honest men, that I closed in with it at
once. My confidence was surrendered at the first summons to the frankness
with which he volunteered his own. We spoke our free hearts each to the
other. I dilated all my pilgrimage, and he spake of most disastrous chances,
of moving accidents through which he had passed even from his boyish days to
this very moment of his ripe and rampant roguery. It appeared that he was on
his way from Portalegre, whence he had been obliged to decamp with the
utmost expedition on account of a little swindling transaction in which his
luck happened not to keep pace with his ingenuity. The habit he wore was
sacrilegiously adopted as a cloak to his person and real character, since he
thought it safest to be near the church, however far from God. Thus did we
two share all our counsel, and pledge our brother’s vows, till we grew together
like a double cherry, and determined, with two seeming bodies but one heart,
to incorporate our voices and minds in some master-stroke at Merida. If it
took, well and good ; if not, we had only to cut and run. From this moment,
community of goods, that pure and simple feature of patriarchal life, was
enacted as a law between us. Moralez, it is true, for that was my fellow-tra-
veller’s name, did not find himself in the most splendid condition possible.
His funds were limited to five or six ducats, with a few little articles in a bag.
I therefore was the monied man of the firm; but then there was brass in his
forehead for an inexhaustible coinage, and the seeming of a saint when he
played the devil most. So on we journeyed on the ride-and-tie principle, and
arrived in humble cavalcade at Merida.
We put up at an inn near the skirts of the town, where my comrade changed
his dress. When he had rigged himself in layman’s attire, we took a turn up
and down, to reconnoitre the ground, and see if we could pick out some oppor-
tunity of labouring in our vocation. Had it been our good fortune to have
lived before Homer, that old apologist for sharping by wholesale would have
dignified our excursion with a simile.
Not half so keen, fierce vultures of the chase
Stoop from the mountains on the feathered race, &c.
To descend into plain prose, we were ruminating on the chapter of accidents,
and hammering out some theme for the employment of our industry, when we
espied a grey-headed old gentleman in the street, sword in hand, defending
172 GIL BLAS.
himself against three men who were thrusting at him with all their might and
main. The unfairness of the match was what stuck in my throat; so that
flying, with the spirit of a prize-fighter, to see fair play, I made common cause
with the old man. Moralez followed up my blows. We proved ourselves a
match for the three assailants, and put them completely to the rout.
Our rescued friend was profuse in his acknowledgments. We are in rapture,
said I, at our good luck in being here so seasonably for your assistance: but
let us at least wes to whom we have been so fortunate as to be serviceable ;
and what inducement those three men could possibly have for their murderous
attempt. Gentlemen replied he, my obligations are too great to hesitate about
satisfying your curiosity; my name is Jerome de Moyadas, a gentleman of this
town, living on my means, One of these cut-throat rascals, from whom you
have rescued me, professes to be in love with my daughter. He asked her of
me in marriage within these few days; and for want of gaining my consent in a
quiet way, has just ia SN to force himself into my daughter’s good graces,
by sending me into the other world. And may we take the liberty, rejoined I,
of inquiring further, why you were so obdurate to the proposals of this en-
amoured swain? I will explain the whole to you at once, said he. I hada
brother, a merchant in this town; his name was Austin. Two months ago he
happened to be at Calatrava, and took up his abode with his correspondent,
Juan Velez de la Membrilla. They got to be as loving as turtles; and my
brother, to clench the connection, engaged my daughter Florence to his good
friend’s son, not doubting but he had influence enough with me to redeem his
pledge when he returned to Merida. Accordingly, he no sooner opened himself
on the subject than I consented out of pure fraternal affection. e sent Flo-
rence’s picture to Calatrava; but, alas! he did not live to put the finishing hand
to his own work. We laid him with his forefathers three weeks ago! his
death-bed, he besought me not to dispose of my girl but in favour of his corre-
spondent’s son. I satisfied his mind on that point ; and this is the reason why
I have refused Florence to the suitor by whom I was assaulted, though the
match would have been a very desirable one. But my word is my idol; and
we are in daily expectation of Juan Velez de la Membrilla’s heir, who is to be
my son-in-law, though I know no more of him, nor of his father neither, than
if they-were just imported from an undiscovered island. But I beg pardon;
this is an old man’s garrulity. Yet you yourselves led me into the scrape,
This tale did I swallow with a greedy ear; and oe at once upon a part
to play, which my fruitful imagination suggested, I put on an air of inordinate
surprise, and ventured at all hazards to lift my eyes upward to a purer region.
Then turning to my father-in-law, with an expression of feeling which pe re
but hypocrisy could personate: Ah! Signor de Moyadas, is it possible that, on
my arrival at Merida, I should enjoy the heartfelt triumph of rescuing from
foul assassination the honoured parent of my peerless love? This exclamation
roduced all the astonishment it was levelled to excite in the old citizen. Even
Searales himself stared like an honest man, and shewed by his face that there
was a degree of impudence to which his conceptions had not hitherto risen.
What! do not my ears deceive me? exclaimed the old gentleman. And are
you really the son of my brother’s correspondent? Really and truly, Signor
Debian de Moyadas, rejoined I with impregnable effrontery, and a hug round
is neck that had nearly sent him after his brother. Behold the selected mor-
tal of his species, to whose arms the adorable Florence is devoted! But these
nuptial anticipations, transporting as they are, must yield to the anguish of my
soul for the demise of their founder. Poor Austin! He is gone, and we must
all follow! I should be ingratitude personified, if my heart was not lacerated
and rent by the death of a man to whom I owe all my hopes of bliss. At the
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL. 173
term of this period, I squeezed good Jerome’s wezand once more, and drew the
back of my hand across my eyes, to wipe away the tears it had not been conve-
nient to shed. Moralez, who by this time had conned over the pretty pickings
to be made out of this juggle, was not wanting to play his underpart. He
passed himself off for my servant, and improved upon his master in lamenta-
tion for the untimely death of Signor Austin. My honoured master Jerome,
exclaimed he, what a loss have you sustained, since your brother is no more!
He was such an honest man. Honest men are not to be met with every day.
A superfine sample of commerce! A dealer in friendship without a per centage !
A dealer in merchandise without an underhand advantage! A dealer who
dealt as dealers very seldom do deal!
We had our hands to play against a man who was a novice at the game.
Simple and cullible, so far from smelling out the rat, he took his stink fora
nosegay. And why, said he, did you not come straight to my house? It was
not friendly to put up at an inn. On the footing we are likely to be upon, there
should be none of those punctilios. Sir, said Moralez, helping me out of the
scrape, my master is a little too much given to stand upon ceremony. Though
to be sure, in the present instance, he is in some degree excusable fordeclining
to appear before in this uncouth trim. We have been robbed upon the road,
and have lost all our travelling equipage. My lad, interrupted I, has let the
cat out of the bag, Signor de Moyadas. This unlucky accident has prevented
me from paying my respects sooner. True love is diffident; nor could I venture
in this garb into the presence of a mistress who was unacquainted with my
person. I was therefore waiting the return of a servant whom I have sent to Cala-
trava. Such a trifle, rejoined the old man, must not deprive us of your com-
pany; and I insist upon it, that you make my house your home from this very
moment.
With such sort of importunityy he forced me into his family : but as we were
on our way, the pretended robbery was a natural topic of conversation; and I
should have made light of my baggage, though the loss was very considerable,
had not Florence’s picture unluckily formed a part of the booty! The old
codger chuckled at that, and observed, that such a loss was easily repaired :
the original was worth five hundred per cent. more than the copy. To make
me amends, as soon as we got home, he called his daughter, a girl of not more
than sixteen, with a person to have reclaimed a libertine, if beauty ever pos-
sessed that power except in romance. You behold, said he, the bale of goods
my late brother has consigned to you. Oh! my good sir, exclaimed I in an
impassioned tone, words are not wanting to assure me that this must be the
lovely Florence: those bewitching features are engraven on my memory, their
impression is indelible on my heart. If the portrait I have lost, the mere out-
line of these embodied charms, could kindle passion by its cold and lifeless
likeness, judge what must be my agitation, my transport at this moment. Such
language is too flattering to be sincere, said Florence; nor am I so weak and
vain as to be persuaded that my merits warrant it. That is right! interchange
your fine speeches, my children! This was a good-natured encouragement from
the father, who at once left me alone with his daughter, and taking Moralez
aside, said to him; My friend, those who made so free with your baggage,
doubtless did not stand upon any ceremony with your money. Very true, sir,
answered my colleague; an overpowering band of robbers poured down upon
us near Castil-Blazo, .and left us not a rag but what we carry on our backs:
but we are in momentary expectation of receiving bills of exchange, and then
we shall appear once more like ourselves.
While you are waiting for your bills of exchange, replied the old man, taking
a purse out of his pocket, here area hundred pistoles with whith you may
174 GIL BLAS.
do as you please. Oh, sir! rejoined Moralez, as if he were shocked, my master
will nevertake them. Youdonot knowhim. Heaven and earth! heisa man
of the nicest scruples in money matters. Not one of your shabby fellows, al-
ways spunging upon his friends, and ready to take up money wherever he can
get it! Running in debt is ratsbane to him. If he is to beg his bread or go
into an hospital, why there is an end of it! but as for borrowing, he will never
be reduced to that. So much the better! said the good burgess: I value him
the more for his independence. Running in debt is a mean thing; it ought to
be ratsbane to him and everybody else. Your people of quality, to be sure,
may plead prescription in their favour ; there is a sort of privileged swindling,
not incompatible with high honour, in high life. If tradesmen were to be paid,
they would be too nearly on a level with their employers. But as your master
has such upright principles, heaven forbid they should be violated in this house !
Since any offer of pecuniary assistance would hurt his feelings, we must say no
more about it. As the point seemed to be settled, the purse was for steeri
its course back again into the pocket ; but my provident partner laid hold of
Signor de Moyadas by the arm, and delayed the convoy. Stay, sir, said he,
whatever aversion my master may have to borrowing on a general principle, and
considered as borrowing, yet there is a light in which, with good management,
he may be brought to look kindly on your hundred pistoles. In fact, it is only
in a mercantile point of view, as an affair of debtor and creditor between
strangers, that he holds this formal doctrine ; but he is free and easy enough
where he is on a family footing. Why, there is his own father! It is only ask
and have ; and he does ask and have accordingly. Now you are going to bea
second father to him, and are fairly entitled to be put on the same confidential
footing. He isa young man of nice discrimination, and will doubtless think
you entitled to the compliment.
By thus shifting his ground, Moralez got possession of the old gentleman’s
purse. As for the girl:and myself, we were engaged in a little agreeable flirt-
ing ; but were soon joined by our honoured parent, who interrupted our téte-d-
téte. He told Florence how much he was obliged to me, and expressed his
gratitude to myself, in terms which left no doubt of our being a very happy
family. I made the most of so favourable a disposition, by telling the good
man, that if he would bestow on me an acknowledgment the nearest to my
heart, he must hasten my marriage with his daughter. My eagerness was not
taken amiss. He assured me, that in three days at latest I should be a happy
bridegroom, and that instead of six thousands ducats, the fortune he
promised to give my wife, he would make it up ten, as a substantial
"egg how deeply he felt himself indebted to me for the service I had rendered
im.
Here we were, therefore, quite at home with our good friend Jerome de
Moyadas, sumptuously entertained, and catching every now and then a vista
vision of ten thousand ducats, with which we proposed to march off abruptly
from Merida. Our transports, however, were not without their alloy. It was
by no means improbable that within three days the bona fide son of Juan Velez
de la Membrilla might come and interrupt our sport. This fear had for its
foundation more than the weakness of our nerves. On the very next morning,
a sort of clodpole, with a portmanteau across his shoulders, knocked at the door
of Florence’s father. I was not at home at the time, but my coll e had to
bear the brunt of it. Sir, said the rustic to our sagacious friend, I belong to the
young gentleman at Calatrava who is to be your son-in-law—to Signor de la
Membrilla. We have both just come off our journey: he will be here in an
instant, and sent me forward to prepare you for his arrival. Hardly had these
unaccountable tidings been announced, when the master appeared in person ;
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL. 175
which stretched the old fellow’s blinkers into a stare, and put Moralez a little
to the blush.
Young Pedro was what we call a tall fellow of his inches. He began at once
paying his compliments to the master of the house ; but the good man did not
give him time to finish his speech ; and turning towards my partner in iniquity,
asked what was the meaning of all this. Hereupon Moralez, whose power of
face was not to be exceeded by any human impudence, boldly asserted our
identity, and said to the old gentleman—Sir, these two men here before you
belong to the gang which pillaged us on the highway. I have a perfect recol-
lection of their features ; and in particular could swear to him who has the
effrontery to call himself the son of Signor Juan Velez de la Membrilla. The
old citizen gulped down the lies of Moralez like nectar, and told the intruders,
on the supposition of their being the impostors—Gentlemen, you are come the
day after the fair; the trick was a very good one, but it will not pass ; the
enemy has taken the ground before you. Pedro de la Membrilla has been un-
der this roof since yesterday. Have all your wits about you, answered the
young man from Calatrava; you are nursing a viper in your bosom. Be as-
sured that Juan Velez de la Membrilla has neither chick nor child but myself.
And what relation is the hangman to you? replied the old dupe: you are better
known than liked in this house. Can you look this young man in the face? or
can you deny that you robbed his master? If I were anywhere but under your
roof, rejoined Pedro in a rage, I would punish the insolence of this scoundrel
who fancies to pass me-off for a highwayman. He is indebted for his safety to
your presence, which puts a curb upon my choler. Good sir, pursued he, you
are grossly imposed on. Iam the favoured youth to whom your brother Austin
has promised your daughter. Is it your pleasure for me to produce the whole
correspondence with my father on the subject of the impending match? Will
you be satisfied with Florence’s picture sent me by him as a present a little
while before his death ?
No, put in the old burgess crustily ; the picture will work just as strongly on
my conviction as the letters. I am perfectly aware by what chance they all fell
into your hands ; and if you will takea stupid fellow’s advice, Merida will soon
be rid of such rubbish. A quick march may save you atrouncing. This is
beyond all bearing, screamed out the young royster with an overwhelming ve-
hemence. My name-shall never be stolen from me, and assumed by a common
cheat with impunity ; neither shall my person be confounded with that of a free-
booter. There are those in this town who can identify me: they are forth-
coming, and shall expose the fallacy by which you are prejudiced against me.
With this assurance he withdrew, attended by his servant, and Moralez kept
possession of the field. The adventure had even the effect of determining
Jerome de Moyadas to fix the wedding for the very time being. Accordingly
he went his way, for the purpose of giving the necessary orders for the cele-
bration.
Though my colleague in knavery was well enough pleased to see Florence’s
father in a humour so pat for our purposes, he was not without certain scruples
of conscience about our safety. It was to be feared, lest the probable proceed-
ings of Pedro might *be followed up by awkward consequences ; so that he
waited impatiently for my arrival, to make me acquainted with what had occur-
red. I found him over head and ears in a brown study. What is the matter,
my friend ? said I, seemingly there is something upon your mind. Indeed there
is ; and something that will be minded, answered he. At thesame time he let
me into the affair. Now you may judge, added he after a pause, whether we
have not some food for reflection. It is your ill star, rash contriver, which has
thrown us into this perplexity. The idea, it must be confessed, was full of fire
176 GIL BLAS.
and ingenuity ; had it answered in the application, your renown would have
been emblazoned in the chronicles of our fraternity ; but according to present
appearances, the run of luck is against us, and my counsels incline to a prudent
avoidance of all explanations, by quietly sneaking off with the market-penny we
have made of the silly old fellow’s credulity.
Master Moralez, replied I to this desponding speech, you give way to diffi-
culties with more haste than good speed. Such pusillanimity does but little
honour to Don Matthias de Cordel, and the other gallant blades with whom you
were affiliated at Toledo, After serving a campaign under such experienced gene-
rals, it is not soldierly to shrink from the perils of the field. For my part, lam
resolved to fight the battles of these heroes over again, or, in more vulgar phrase,
to prove myself a chip from the old blocks. The precipice which makes your
head turn giddy only stiffens my sinews to surmount the toils of the way, and
push forward to the end of our career. If you arrive at your journey’s end in a
whole skin, said my companion, I will myself be your biographer, and set your
fame far above all the parallels of Plutarch.
Just as Moralez was finishing this learned allusion, Jerome de Moyadas came
in. You shall be my son-in-law this very evening, said he. Your servant must
have given you an account of what has just passed. What say you to the im-
pudence of the scoundrel who wanted to make me believe that he was the son
of my brother’s correspondent? Honoured sir, answered I, with a melanchol
air, and in a tone of voice the most insinuating that ever cajoled the easy faith
of a dotard, I feel within me that it is not in my nature to carry on an imposition
without betraying it in my countenance. It now becomes necessary to make
oe a sincere confession. Iam not the son of Juan Velez de la Membrilla.
hat is it you tell me? interrupted the old man, out of breath with surprise,
and out of his wits with apprehension. So then! you are not the young man
to whom my brother... .. For pity’s sake, sir, interrupted I in my turn, con-
descend to give me a hearing patiently to the end of my story. For these eight
days have I doted to distraction on your daughter; and this dotage, this dis-
traction, has riveted me to Merida. Yesterday, after having rescued you from
your danger, I was making up my mind to ask her of you in marriage; but you
gave a check to my passion and put a tie upon my tongue, by the intelligence
that she was destined for another. You told me that your brother, on his
death-bed, enjoined you to give her to Pedro de la Membrilla; that your word
was pledged, and that you were the sworn vassal and bondman of your veracity.
These circumstances, it must be owned, were overwhelming in the extreme ;
and my romantic passion, at the last gasp of its despair, gained breath by the
stratagem with which the god of love inspired me. I must at the same time
declare that a trick is at the best but a mean thing, and, however sanctified by
the motive, my conscience recoiled at the delusion. Yet I could not but think
that my pardon would be granted on the discovery, when it should come out
that I was an Italian prince travelling through this country as a private gentle-
man, My father reigns supreme over a nest of inaccessible valleys, lying be-
tween Switzerland, the Milanese, and Savoy. It could not but occur to me
that you would be agreeably surprised when I should unfold to you my birth,
and having married Florence under my fictitious character, should announce to
her the rank she had attained, with all the rapture of an enamoured husband,
and all the stage effect of a hero in tragedy or romance. But heaven, pursued
I, with an hypocritical softening down of my accents, has visited my sins by
cutting me off from such a perennial stream of joy. Pedro de la Membrilla
was introduced upon the scene; he must have his name back again, whatever
the restitution may cost me. Your promise binds you hand and foot to fix upon
him for your son-in-law; it is your duty to give him the preference, without
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL. 177
taking my rank and station into the account ; without mercy on the forlorn con-
dition to which you are going to reduce me. To be sure, it might be said, but
then I should say it who ought not to say it, that your brother had only the au-
thority of an uncle over your daughter, that you are her father, and that there
is more right and reason in discharging an actual debt of gratitude towards your
preserver, than in being mealy-mouthed about a verbal promise which would
press but lightly on the conscience of the most scrupulous casuist.
Yes, without doubt, that argument is indisputable, exclaimed Jerome de Moy-
adas; and on that ground there can no longer be any question between you and
Pedro de la Membrilla. If my brother Austin were still living, he would not
think it bad morality to give the preference to a man who has saved my life, nor
a bad speculation to close the bargain with a prince who has not disdained to
court our alliance. It were an absolute suicide on the part of all my opening
prospects ; the frantic desperation of an acknowledged incurable, not to dispose of
my daughter so illustriously, not to solicit your highness’s acceptance of her
hand. And yet, sir, resumed I, these things are not to be determined without
due deliberation ; look at your own interests and safety with a microscopic eye, -
for though the illustrious channel through which my blood has flowed for
es ..... You are scarcely serious, interrupted he, in supposing that I can
hesitate fora moment. No, may it please your highness; it is my most humble
and earnest request that you will deign, on this very evening, to honour the
happy Florence with your hand. Well, then! said I, be it so; go yourself and
be the bearer of the unlooked-for tidings, announce to her the brilliant career of
her exalted destiny.
While the good citizen was putting his best foot foremost, to instil into his
daughter that she had made the conquest of a prince, Moralez, who had taken
in the whole conversation with greedy ear, threw himself upon his knees before
me, and did homage in these bantering terms. Most potent, grave, and august
Italian prince, son of a sovereign, supreme over a nest of inaccessible valleys, |
lying between Switzerland, the Milanese, and Savoy, permit me to humble my-
self at your highness’s feet, in humble acknowledgment of the ecstasy into which
you have thrown me. By the honour of a swindler, you are one of the wonders
of our world. I always thought myself the first man in the line; but in good
truth I doff my bonnet before you, whose genius seems to supersede the lessons
of experience. Then you are no longer uneasy about the result, said I to my
colleague in iniquity. Oh! asto that, «t in the least, answered he. I no
longer care a fig for Master Pedro; let him come as soon as he pleases, we
area match for him. Here we are, then, Moralez and myself, safe seated on
the saddle, and rising in our stirrups. We even went so far as to begin settling
the course we should pursue with the fortune, on which we reckoned so securely,
that if it had already been in our pockets, we could not have chuckled more
triumphantly over the proverb of ‘‘a bird in the hand.” Yet we were not in
actual possession, which is more than legal right: and the sequel of the adven-
ture proved to us, that many things fall out between the cup and the lip.
We very soon saw the young man of Calatrava returning. He was accom-
panied by two citizens and by an alguazil, whose dignity was as much supported
by his whiskers, and by the lowering overcast of his swarthy aspect, as by the
weight of his official character. Florence’s father was of the party. Signor de
Moyadas, said Pedro to him, here are three honest people come to answer for
me; they are acquainted with my person, and can tell you who Iam. Yes,
undoubtedly, exclaimed the alguazil, I can depose to the fact. I certify to all
those whom it may concern, that you are known to me: your name is Pedro,
and you are the only son of Juan Valez de la Membrilla : whosoever dares to
maintain the contrary is an impostor. - i believe you implicitly, master alguazil,
178 GIL BLAS.
said the good creature Jerome de Moyadas, rather drily. Your evidence is
gospel to me, as well as that of these fair and honest tradesmen you have brought
with you. Iam fully satisfied that the young gentleman on whose behalf you
come is the only son of my brother’s correspondent. But what is that to me?
I am no longer in the humour to give him my daughter, so there is an end of
that.
Oh! then it is quite another matter, said the alguazil. I only come to your
house for the purpose of assuring you that this young man is no impostor. You
have the authority of a parent over your child, and no one has any right to dictate
to you how you are to marry her, and whether you will or no. Neither do I, on
my part, interrupted Pedro, pretend to lay any force on the inclinations of Signor
de Moyadas ; but he will perhaps allow me to ask him why he has so suddenly
changed his resolution. as he any reason to be dissatisfied with me? Alas!
let me at least understand, that in losing the sweet hope of becoming his son-
in-law, my promised bliss has not been wrested from me by any misconduct of
my own. I have no complaint to make of you, answered the old man; nay, I
will even tell you more; it is with sincere sorrow that I find myself under the
necessity of breaking my word with you, and I heartily beseech you to forgive
me for having done so. Iam persuaded that you are too generous:to bear me
any ill-will for having thrown the balance into the scale of a rival, who has saved
my life. You see him here, pursued he, introducing my noble self, this is the
illustrious personage who threw round me the shield of his protection in my
great peril: and, the better still to apologize for my seemingly harsh treatment
of yourself, you are to know that he is an Italian prince.
At these last words, Pedro was dumb-founded, and looked as if he could not
help it. The two tradesmen opened their eyes as wide as they could stare,
with surprise at finding themselves for the first time in princely society. But
the alguazil, in the habit of looking at things with the cross eye of suspicion,
divined most perspicuously that this marvellous adventure must be a complete
humbug ; and the verification of the prophecy was calculated to put money into
the pocket of the prophet. He therefore conned over my countenance with a
very inquisitive regard ; but as my features, which were new to justice, threw
him out most cruelly from hunting down the game he was in chase of, he had
no alternative but to try his luck on my companion. Unfortunately for my
highness of the inaccessible valleys, he knew again the hang-dog features of
Moralez ; and recollecting to have seen him within the purlieus of a gaol, Ay,
ay ! exclaimed he, this is one of my established customers. This gentleman is
a particular acquaintance of mine, and you may take his character from me for
one of the rankest rascals within the kingdoms and principalities of Spain.
Softly, look before you leap, most adventurous alguazil, said Jerome de
Moyadas ; this lad, of whom you draw so unfavourable a picture, is in the
travelling retinue of a prince. So much the better, retorted the alguazil ; a
man would not desire clearer evidence on which to bring in his verdict. If we
can but hang the servant, we shall soon send the master to the devil. The case
is as undeniable as a feed counsel’s plea ; these pleasant sparks are a couple of
fortune-hunters, who have laid their heads together to take youin. Iam an
old hound upon this scent ; so that, by way of proof presumptive that these
merry vagabonds are within the contemplation of the law in that case provided,
I shall lodge them where they will be well taken care of. They will have
plenty of time for meditation under the chastising philosophy of a turnkey ; or
should confinement fail to mend their morals, we have a sort of tangible disci-
pline, which insinuates reformation by the inlet of a smarting hide. Stop there,
and bethink you in good time, master officer, rejoined the old gentleman ; we
must not draw the cord tighter than it will bear. You never make any bones,
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL. 199
you hangers-on of the law, about hurting the feelings of better men than your-
selves. May not this servant be a common cheat, without his master being a
swindler ? Princes are persons of honour as a matter of course ; yet the retainers .
to a court are inordinate rascals ; it requires no conjurer to find that out. Are
you playing into the hands of your deluders, with your princes ? interrupted the
alguazil. ‘This new manufacturer of false pretences is a proficient, take my
word for it ; but I shall quench his zeal in the service, and gravel the ingenuity
of his partner, with a whereas and a commitment in due form. The scouts of
justice are all round the door, who will worry their game every inch of the
chase, if they do not suffer themselves to be taken quietly on their form. So
come along, may it please your serene highness, let us proceed to our destin-
ation,
This upshot of the business was a death-blow to me, as well as to Moralez ;
and our confusion did but infuse doubts into the mind of Jerome de Moyadas,
or rather burned, sunk, and destroyed us in his esteem. He began rather to
think, not without reason, that we had some little design to impose on his
credulity. Nevertheless he acted on this. occasion in the spirit of a man of
honour and a gentleman. My good friend and protector, said he to the
alguazil, your conjectures may be without foundation ; on the other hand, they
may turn out to have too much truth in them. Whichever of these alternatives
may be the fact, let us not look too curiously into their characters. They are
both young, and have time enough for amendment if they want it ; let them go
their ways, and withdraw whithersoever it may best please them. Make no
opposition, I beseech you, to their safe egress ; it is a favour which you may
consider as done to me, and my motive for asking it is to acquit myself of my
debt to them. If my heart was not too soft for my profession, answered the
alguazil, I should lodge these pretty gentlemen in limbo, in defiance of all your
pleadings in their favour ; but your eloquence and my susceptibility have relaxed
the stern demeanour of justice for this evening. Let them, however, leave town
on the spur of the occasion ;: for if I come across them to-morrow, and there is
any faith in an alguazil, they shall see such sport as will be no sport to them.
When it was signified to Moralez and me, culprits as we were, that we were
to be let off scot free, we polished up the brass upon our foreheads a little. It
was time now to bounce and swagger, and to maintain that we were men of
undeniable respectability ; but the alguazil looked askew at us, and muttered
that least said was soonest mended. I do not know how, but those gentry have
a strange knack of curbing our genius ; they are complete lords of the ascendant.
Florence and her dowry therefore were lost to Pedro de la Membrilla by a turn
of the dice, and we may conclude that he was received as the son-in-law of
Jerome de Moyadas. I took to myheels with my companion. We blundered
on the road to Truxillo, with the consolation at our hearts of having at least
pocketed a hundred pistoles by our frolic. An hour before night-fall we passed
through a little village with the intention of putting up for the evening at the
next stage. An inn of very tolerable appearance for the place attracted our
notice. The landlord and landlady were sitting at the door, on a long bench
such as usually graces a pot-house porch. Our host, a tall man, withered,
and with one foot in the grave, was tinkling on a cracked guitar to the unbound-
ed emolument of his wife, whose faculties seemed to hang in rapture on the per-
formance. Gentlemen, cried out the intrepid tavern-keeper, when he found
that we were not upon the halt, you will do well to stop here; you may fare
worse further off. There is a devil of a three leagues to the nearest village, and
you will find nothing to make you amends for what you leave behind ; you
may assure yourselves ofthat. Take aword of advice, know when you are well
used ; I will treat you with the fat of the land, and charge you at the lowest
180 GIL BLAS.
rate. There was no resisting sucha plea. We came up to our courteous enter-
tainers, paid them the compliments of course, and sitting down by their side,
the conversation was supported by all four on the indifferent topics of the day.
Our host announced himself as an officer of the Holy Brotherhood, and his rib
was a fat laughing squab of a woman, with outward good-nature, but with an
eye to make the most of her commodities.
Our discourse was broken in upon by the arrival of from twelve to fifteen
riders, some mounted on mules, others on horseback, followed by about
thirty sumpter-mules laden with packages. Ah! what a princely retinue!
exclaimed the landlord at the sight of so much company: where can I put them
all? In an instant the village was crammed full of men and beasts. As luck
would have it, there was near the inn an immense barn, where the sumpter-
mules and their packages were secured ; the saddle-mules and horses were taken
care of in other places. As for their masters, they thought less about bespeak-
ing beds than about calling for the bill of fare, and ordering a good supper.
The host and hostess, with a servant girl whom they kept, were all upon the
alert to make things agreeable. They laid a heavy hand upon all the fowls in
the poultry-yard. These precious roasts, with some undisguised rabbits, cats
in the masquerade of a fricassee, and a deluging tureen of soup, stinking of
cabbage and greasy with mutton fat, were enough to have given a sickener to
the inveterate stomachs of a regiment.
As for Moralez and myself, we cast a scrutinizing eye on these troopers, nor
were they behindhand in passing their secret judgments upon us. At last we
came together in conversation, and it was proposed on our part, if they had no
objection, that we should all sup together. They assured us that they should
be extremely happy in our company. Here we are, then, all seated round the
table. There was one among them who seemed to take the lead; and for
whom the rest, though in the main they were on the most intimate terms with
him, thought it necessary on some occasions to testify their deference. In case of
a dispute, this high gentleman assumed the umpire, he talked in a tone above the
common pitch, going so far sometimes as to contradict in no very courtly phrase
the sentiments of others, who, far from giving him back his own, were ready
to swear to his assertions and crouch under his rebuke. By accident the dis-
course turned on Andalusia. Moralez happening to launch out into the praise
of Seville, the man about whom I have been talking said to him—My good
fellow-traveller, you are ringing the chimes on the city which gave birth to me ;
at least I am a native of the neighbourhood, since the little town of Mayrena
is answerable for my appearance in the world. I have the same story to tell
you, answered my companion. I am also of Mayrena; and it is scarcely pos-
sible but that our families should be acquainted. Whose son are you? An
honest notary’s, replied the stranger, by name Martin Moralez. As fate will
have it, exclaimed my comrade with emotion, the adventure is very remarkable!
You are then my eldest brother, Manuel Moralez? Exactly so, said the other,
and if my senses do not deceive me, you your very self are my little brother
Lewis, whom I left in the cradle when I turned my back upon my father’s
house? You are right in your conjectures, answered my honest colleague. At
this discovery they both got up from table, and almost hugged the breath out
of each other’s bodies. At last Signor Manuel said to the company—Genile-
men, this circumstance is altogether marvellous. By mere chance, I have met
with a brother and have been challenged by him, whom I have not seen for
more than twenty years: allow me to introduce him. At once all the travel-
lers, who had risen from their seats out of curiosity and good manners, paid
their compliments to the younger Moralez, and made him run the gauntlet
through their salutations, When these were over, the party returned to the
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL. 181
table, nor did they think any more of an adjournment. Bed-time never entered
into their heads. The two brothers sat next to one another, and talked ina
whisper about their family affairs; the other guests plied the bottle, and made
merry in a louder key.
Lewis had a long conference with Manuel; and afterwards, taking me aside,
said tome; All these troopers belong to the household of the Count de Mon-
tanos, whom the king has very lately appointed to the vice-regal government
of Majorca, They are convoying the equipage of the viceroy to Alicant, where
they are to embark. My brother, who has risen to be steward to that noble-
man, proposes to take me along with him; and on the difficulty I started about
leaving you, he told me that if you would be of the party, he would procure
you a good berth. My dear friend, pursued he, I advise you not to stand out
against this proposal. Let us take flight together for thé island of Majorca. If
we find our quarters pleasant, we will fix there; and if they are otherwise, we
have nothing to do but to return into Spain.
I accepted the proposal with the best grace possible. What a reinforce-
ment, in the person of young Moralez and myself, to the household of the
count! We took our departure in a body from the inn, before daybreak.
We got to the city of Alicant by long stages, and there I bought a guitar, and
arranged my dress ina manner suited to my new destination, before we em-
barked. Nothing ran in my head but the island of Majorca; and Lewis
Moralez was a new man as well as myself. It should seem as though we had
bid farewell to the rogueries of this wicked world. Yet, not to play the liar
in the ear of so rigorous a confessor as my own conscience, we had a mind not
to pass for villains incarnate, now that we had got into company that had some
pretensions to decency: and that was the sum total of our honesty. The na-
tural bent of our genius remained much the same; we were still men of busi-
ness, but just now keeping a vacation. In short, we went on board gallantly
and gaily in this lucid interval of innocence, and had no idea but of landing at
a ja under the especial care of Neptune and AZolus. Hardly, however,
had we cleared the gulf of Alicant, when a sudden and violent storm arose,
enough to have frightened better men. Now is my opportunity, or never, to
speak of moving accidents by flood; to set the atmosphere on fire, and give a
louder explosion to the thunder-cloud ; to compare the whistling of the winds
to the factions of a populace, and the rolling of the waves to the shock of con-
flicting hosts ; with other such old-fashioned phraseologies as have been heir-
looms of Parnassus from time immemorial. But it is useless to be poetical
without invention. Suffice it therefore to say, in slang metaphor, that the
storm was a devil of a storm, and obliged us to stand in for the point of Ca-
brera, This is a desert island, with a small fort, at that time garrisoned by an
officer and five or six soldiers. Our reception was hospitable and cordial.
As it was necessary for us to stay there some days, for the purpose of refit-
ting our sails and. rigging, we devised various kinds of amusements to keep off
the foul fiend, melancholy. Every one did as seemed good in his own eyes:
some played at cards, others diverted themselves in other ways ; but as for me,
I went about exploring the island, with such of our gentry as had either a cu-
riosity or a taste for the picturesque. We were frequently obliged to clamber
from rock to rock ; for the face of the country is rugged, and the soil scanty,
presenting a scene difficult of access, but interesting from its wildness. One
day, while we were speculating on these dry and barren prospects, and extract-
ing a moral from the vagaries of nature, who can swell into the fruitful mother
and the copious nurse, or shrink into the lean and loathsome skeleton as she
pleases, our sense was all at once regaled with a most delicious fragrance. We
turned as with a common impulse towards the east, whence the scented gale
182 GIL BLAS.
seemed tocome. To our utter astonishment, we discovered among the rocks a
green plat of considerable dimensions, gay with honeysuckles more luxuriant
and more odorous than even those which thrive so greatly in the climate of
Andalusia. We were not sorry to approach nearer these delicious shrubs,
which were wasting their sweetness in such unchecked profusion, when it
turned out that they lined the entrance of a very deep cavern. The opening
was wide, and the recess in consequence partially illuminated. We were de-
termined to explore; and descended by some stone steps overgrown with
flowers on each side, so that it was difficult to say whether the approach was
formed by art or nature. When we had got down, we saw several little
streams winding over a sand, the yellow lustre of which outrivalled gold.
These drew their sources from the continual distillations of the rock within,
and lost themselves again in the hollows of the ground. The water looked so
clear, that we were tempted to drink of it ; and such was its freshness, that we
made a party to return the next day, with some bottles of generous wine, which
we were persuaded would acquire new zest from the retreat where they were to
be quaffed.
It was not without regret that we left so agreeable a place: nor did we omit,
on our return to the fort, boasting among our comrades of so interesting a dis-
covery. ‘The commander of the fortress, however, with the warmest profes-
sions of friendship, warned us against going any more to the cavern, with
which we were so much delighted. And why’so? said I, is there anything to
be afraid of? Most undoubtedly, answered he. The corsairs of Algiers and
Tripoli sometimes land upon this island, for the purpose of watering at that
spring. One day they surprised two soldiers of my garrison there, whom they
carried into slavery. It was in vain that the officer assumed a tone of kind
dissuasion ; nothing could prevent us from going. We fancied that he meant
to play upon our fears ; and the day following I returned to the cavern with
three adventurous blades of our establishment. We were even fool-hardy
enough to leave our fire-arms behind as a sort of bravado. Young Moralez
declined being of the party: the fort and the gaming-table had more charms
for him, as well as for his brother.
We went down to the bottom of the cave, as on the preceding day, and set
some bottles of the wine we had brought with us to cool in the rivulets. While
we were enjoying them in all the luxury of elegant conviviality, our wits set in
motion by the novelty of the scene, and the echo reverberating to the music of
our guitars, we espied at the mouth of the cavern several abominable faces
overgrown with whiskers ; neither did their turbans and Turkish dresses render
them a whit more amiable in our conceits. We nevertheless took it into our
heads that it was a frolic of our own party, set on by the commanding officer of
the fort, and that they had disguised themselves for the purpose of playing us
a trick. With this impression on our minds, we set up a horse-laugh, and
allowed a quiet entrance to about ten, without thinking of making any resist-
ance. In a few moments our eyes were opened to that fatal error, and we
were convinced, in sober sadness, that it was a corsair at the head of his crew,
come to carry us away. Surrender, you Christian dogs, cried he in most out-
landish Castilian, or prepare for instant death. At the same time the men who
accompanied him levelled their pieces at us, and our ribs would have been well
lined with the contents, if we had resisted in the least. Slavery seemed the
better alternative than death, so that we delivered our swords to the pirate.
He ordered us to be handcuffed and carried on board his vessel, which was
rere not far off; then, setting sail, he steered with a fair wind towards
giers..
Thus were we punished for having neglected the warning given us by the’
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL. 183
officer of the garrison. The first thing the corsair did was to put his hand into
our pockets and make free with our money. No bad windfall for him! The
two hundred pistoles from the greenhorns at Placentia; the hundred which
Moralez had received from Jerome de Moyadas, and which, as ill luck would
have it, were in my custody ; all this was swept away without a single qualm
of conscience. My companions too had their purses well lined ; and it was all
fish that came to the net, The pirate seemed to chuckle at so successful a
drag ; and the scoundrel, not contented with chousing us of our cash, insulted
us with his infernal Moorish witticisms : but the edge of his satire was not half
so keen as the dire necessity which made us the subject of it. After a thousand
clumsy sarcasms, he called for the bottles which we had set to cool in the
fountain ; those irreligious Mahometans not having scrupled to load their con-
sciences with the conveyance of the unholy fermentation. The master and his
man pledged one another in many a Christian bumper, and drank to our
better acquaintance with a most provoking mockery.
While this farce was acting, my comrades wore a hanging look, which testi-
fied how pleasantly their thoughts were employed. They were so much the
more out of conceit. with their captivity, as they thought they had drawn a
prize in the lottery of human life. The island of Majorca, with all its luxuries
and delights, was a melancholy contrast with their present situation. For my
part, I had the good sense to take things as I found them. Less put out of my
way by my misfortune than the rest, I joined in conversation with this trans-
marine joker, and shewed him that wit was the common language of Africa
and of Europe. He was pleased with my accommodating spirit. Young man,
said he, instead of groaning and sighing, you do well to arm yourself with
patience, and to fall in with the current of your destiny. Play us a little air,
continued he, observing that I had a guitar by my side ; let us have a specimen
of your skill. I complied with his command, as soon as my arms were loosened
from their confinement, and began to thrum away in a style that drew down
the applauses ef my discerning audience. It is true that I had been taught by
the best master in Madrid, and that I played very tolerably for an amateur upon
that instrument. A song was then called for, and my voice gave equal satis-
faction. All the Turks on board testified by gestures of admiration the delight
with which my performance inspired them ; from which circumstance it was
but modest to conclude, that vocal music had made no very extraordinary
progress in their part of the world. The pirate whispered in my ear, that my
slavery should be no disadvantage to me; and that with my talents I might
reckon upon an employment, by which my lot would be rendered not only
supportable, but happy.
I felt somewhat encouraged by these assurances ; but flattering as they were,
I was not without my uneasiness as to the employment, which the corsair held
out as a nameless, but invaluable boon. When we arrived in the port of Algiers,
a great number of persons were collected to receive us; and we had not yet
disembarked, when they uttered a thousand shouts of joy. Add to this, that
the air re-echoed with a confused sound of trumpets, of Moorish flutes, and of
other instruments, the fashion of that country, forming a symphony of deafening
clangour, but very doubtful harmony. The occasion of these rejoicings pro-
ceeded from a false report, which had been current about the town. It had
been the general talk that the renegado Mahomet, meaning our amiable pirate,
had lost his life in the attack of a large Genoese vessel; so that all his friends,
informed of his return, were eager to hail him with these thundering demonstra-
tions of attachment.
We had no sooner set foot on shore, than my companions and myself were
conducted to the palace of the bashaw Soliman, where a Christian secretary,
184 GIL BLAS.
questioning us individually one after another, inquired into our names, our
ages, our country, our religion, and our qualifications. ‘Then Mahomet, pre-
senting me to the bashaw, paid my voice more compliments than it deserved, and
told him that I played on the guitar with a most ravishing expression. This
was enough to influence Soliman in his choice of me for his own immediate
service. I took up my abode therefore in his seraglio. The other captives
were led into the public market, and sold there at the usual rate of Christian
cattle. What Mahomet had foretold to me on ship-board was completely veri-
fied ; my condition was exactly to my mind. I was not consigned to the strong-
hold of a prison, nor kept to any works of oppressive labour. My indulgent
master stationed me in a particular quarter, with five or six slaves of superior
rank, who were in momentary expectation of being ransomed, and were there-
fore favoured in the distribution of our tasks. The care of watering the orange-
trees and flowers in the gardens was allotted as my portion. There could not
be a more agreeable or less fatiguing employment.
Soliman was a man about forty years of age, well made as to figure, tolerably
accomplished as to his mind, and as much of a lady’s man as could be expected
from a Turk. His favourite was a Cashmirian, whose wit and beauty had
acquired an absolute dominion over his affections. He loved her even to
idolatry. Not a day but he paid his court to her by some elegant entertain-
ment; at one time a concert of vocal and instrumental music, at another, a
dramatic performance after the fashion of the Turks, which fashion implies
a loose sort of comedy, where moral and modesty enter about as much into
the contemplation of the contriver, as do Aristotle and his unities. The
favourite, whose name was Farrukhnaz, was passionately enamoured of these
exhibitions ; she sometimes even got up among her own women some Arabian
melodrames to be performed before her admirer. She took some of the parts
herself, and charmed the spectators by the abundant grace and vivacity of her
action. One day when I was among the musicians at one of these representa-
tions, Soliman ordered me to play on the guitar, and to sing a solo between
the acts of the piece. I had the good fortune to give satisfaction, and was
received with applause. The favourite herself, if my vanity did not mislead me,
cast glances towards me of no unfavourable interpretation.
On the next day, as I was watering the orange-trees in the gardens, there
passed close by me an eunuch, who, without stopping or saying a word, threw
down a note at my feet. I picked it up with an emotion, strangely compounded
of pleasure and alarm. I crouched upon the ground, for fear of being observed
from the windows of the seraglio; and, concealing myself behind the boxes in
which the orange-trees were planted, opened this unexpected enclosure, There
I found a diamond of very considerable value, and these words, in genuine
Castilian: ‘‘ Young Christian, return thanks to heaven for your captivity.
Love and fortune will render it the harbinger of your bliss: love, if you are
alive to the attractions of a fine person, and fortune, if you have the hardihood
to confront danger in every direction.”
I could not for a moment doubt that the letter was written by the favourite
sultana ; the style and the diamond were more than presumptive evidence
against her. (Besides that nature did not cast me in the mould of a coward, the
vanity of keeping up a good understanding with the mistress of a scoundrelly
Mahometan in office, and, more than all the temptations of vanity or inclination,
the hope of cajoling her out of four times as much as the curmudgeon her mas-
ter would demand for my ransom, put me into conceit with the intention of try-
ing my luck at a venture, whatever risk might be incurred in the experiment.
I went on with my gardening, but always harping on the means of getting into
the apartment of Farrukhnaz, or rather waiting till she opened a door of com-
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL. 185
munication ; for I was clearly of opinion that she would not stop upon the
threshold, but meet me half way in the career of love and danger. My con-
jecture was not altogether without foundation. The same eunuch who had
led me into this amorous reverie passed the same way an hour afterwards, and
said to me: Christian, have you communed with your own determinations,
and will you win a fair lady, by abjuring a faint heart? I answered in the
affirmative. Well, then, rejoined he, heaven sprinkle its dew upon your resolu-
tions! You shall see me betimes to-morrow morning. With this comfortable
assurance, he withdrew. The following day, I actually saw him make his ap-
pearance about eight o’clock in the morning. He made a signal for me to go
along with him: I obeyed the summons; and he conducted me into a hall
where was a large wrapper of canvas which he and another eunuch had just
brought thither, with the design of carrying it to the sultana’s apartment, for the
purpose of furnishing a scene for an Arabian pantomime, in preparation for the
amusement of the bashaw.
The two eunuchs unrolled the cloth, and laid me at my length on the pro-
scenium ; then, at the risk of turning the farce into a tragedy by stifling me,
they rolled it up again, with its palpitating contents. In the next place, taking
hold of it at each end, they conveyed me with impunity by this device into the
chamber devoted to the repose of the beautiful Cashmirian. She was alone
with an old slave devoted to her wishes. They helped each other to unroll their
precious bale of goods ; and Farrukhnaz, at the sight of her consignment, set
up such an alarm of delight, as exhibited the woman of the East, without for-
getting her prurient propensities. With all my natural bias towards adventure,
I could not recognize myself as at once transported into the private apartment
of the women, without something like an inauspicious damp upon my joy. The
lady was aware of my feelings, and anxious to dissipate the unpleasant part of
them, Young man, said she, you have nothing to fear. Soliman is just gone to
his country-house : he is safely lodged for the day ; so that we shall be able to
entertain one another here at our ease.
Hints like these rallied my scattered. spirits, and gave a cast to my counte-
nance which confirmed the speculation of the favourite. You have won my
heart, pursued she, and it is in my contemplation to soften the severity of your
bondage. You seem to be worthy of the sentiments which I have conceived for
you. Though disguised under the garb of a slave, your air is noble, and your
hysiognomy of a character to recommend you to the good graces of a lady.
uch an exterior must belong to one above thecommon. Unbosom yourself to
me in confidence ; tell me who you are. I know that captives of superior con-
dition and family disguise their real circumstances, to be redeemed at a lower
rate ; but you have no inducement to practise such a deception on me; and it
would even be a precaution revolting to my designs in your favour, since I here
pledge myself for your liberty. Deal with sincerity, therefore, and own to me
at once that you are a youth of illustrious rank, In good earnest then, madam,
answered I, it would ill become me to repay your generous partiality with dis-
simulation. Youare absolutely bent upon it, that I should entrust you with the
secret of my quality, and commands like yours are not to be questioned or re-
sisted. I am the son of a Spanish grandee. And soit might actually have
been, for anything that I know to the contrary ; at all events, the sultana gave
me credit for it, so that with considerable self-congratulation, at having fixed
her regard on a gentleman of some little figure in the world, she assured me
that it only depended on herself, whether or no we should meet pretty often in
private. In fact, we were no niggards of our mutual good-will at the very first
approaches, I never met with a woman who was more what a man wishes her
to be. She was besides an expert linguist, above all in Castilian, which she
186 GIL BLAS.
spoke with fluency and purity. When she conceived it to be time for us to part,
I got by her order into a large osier basket, with an embroidered silk coveri
of her own manufacture ; then the two slaves who had brought me in were
to carry me out as a present from the favourite to her deluded lord ; for under
this pretence it is easy to screen any amorous exports from the inspection of the
officers entrusted with the superintendence of the women.
As for Farrukhnaz and myself, we were not slack in other devices to bring us
together ; and that lovely captive inspired me by degrees with as much love as
she herself entertained for me. Our good understanding was kept a profound
secret for full two months, notwithstanding the extreme difficulty in a seraglio
of veiling the mysteries of love for any length of time from those uninitiated,
whose eyes are jaundiced by their own disqualification. Neither was the dis-
covery made at last by the means of envious spies. An unlucky chance dis-
concerted all our little arrangements, and the features of my fortune were at
once aggravated into a frown. One day when I had been introduced into the
presence of the sultana, in the body of an artificial dragon, invented as a machine
foraspectacle, while we were parleying most amicably together, Soliman, to whom
we had given credit for having gone out of town, made his unwelcome appear-
ance. He entered so abruptly into his favourite’s apartment, as scarcely to leave
time for the old slave to give us notice of his approach. Still less was there any
opportunity to conceal me. Thus therefore, with all my enormities on my head,
was I the first object which presented itself to the astonished eyes of the bashaw.
He seemed considerably startled at the sight ; and his countenance flashed
with indignation on the instant. I considered myself as a wretch just hovering
on the brink of the grave ; and death seemed arrayed in all the paraphernalia
of torture. As for Farrukhnaz, it was very evident, in good truth, that she was
miserably frightened ; but instead of owning her crime and imploring pardon,
she said to Soliman: My lord, before you pronounce my sentence, be pleased
to hear my defence. Appearances, doubtless, condemn me ; and it must strike
you that I have committed an act of treason, worthy the most dreadful punish-
ments. It is true, I have brought this young captive hither; it is true that I
have introduced him into my apartment, with just such artifices as I should have
used if I had entertained a violent passion for him. And yet, I call our great
prophet to witness, in spite of these seeming irregularities, I am not faithless to
you. It was my wish to converse with this Christian slave, for the purpose of
disengaging him from his own sect, and proselyting him to that of the true be-
lievers. But I have found in hima principle of resistance for which I was not
well prepared. I have, however, conquered his prejudices; and he came to
give me an assurance that he would embrace Mahometanism.
I do not mean to deny that it was an act of duty to have contradicted the
favourite flatly, without paying the least attention to the dangerous predicament
in which I stood: but my spirits were taken by surprise ; the beloved partner
of my imprudence was hovering on the brink of perdition ; and my own fate
was involved with hers. How could I do otherwise than give a silent and per-
turbed assent to her impious fiction? My tongue, indeed, refused to ratify it ;
but the bashaw, persuaded by my acquiescence that his mistress had told him
the whole truth and nothing but the truth, suffered his angry spirit to be tran-
quillized. Madam, answered he, I am willing to believe that you have com-
mitted no infidelity towards me ; and that the desire of doing a thing agreeable
to the prophet has been the means of leading you on to risk so hazardous and
delicate a proceeding. I forgive, therefore, your imprudence, on condition that
this captive assumes the turban on the spot. Hesent immediately for a priest*
* These wandering priests are at present known in Africa by the name of
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL. 187
to initiate me. My dress was changed with all due ceremony into the Turkish.
They did just what they pleased with me; nor had I the courage to object :
or, todo myself more justice, I knew not what was becoming of me, in so dreadful
a disorder of all my faculties and feelings. There are other good Christians in
the world, who have been guilty of apostatizing on less imminent emergencies !
After the ceremony, I took my leave of the seraglio, to go and possess myself,
under the name of Sidy Hali, of an inferior office which Soliman had given
me. I never saw’the sultana more; but an eunuch of hers came one day to
look after me. He brought with him, as a present from his mistress, jewels to
a very considerable amount, accompanied with a letter, in which the lady assured
me she should never forget my generous compliance, in turning Mahometan to
save her life. In point of fact, besides these rich gifts, lavished upon me by
Farrukhnaz, I obtained through her interest a more considerable employment
than my first, and in the course of six or seven years became one of the richest
renegadoes in the town of Algiers.
You must be perfectly aware, that if I assisted at the prayers put up by the
Mussulmen in their mosques, or fulfilled the other observances of their religion,
it was all a mere copy of my countenance. My inclination was always uniform
and determined, as to returning before my death into the bosom of our holy
church; and with this viéw I looked forward to withdrawing some time or
other into Spain or Italy with the riches I should have accumulated. But there
seemed no reason whatever against enjoying life in the interval. I was estab-
lished in a magnificent mansion, with gardens of extent and beauty, a numerous
train of slaves, and a well-appointed equipage of pretty girls in my seraglio.
Though the Mahometans are forbidden the use of wine in that country, they
are not backward for the most part in their stolen libations, As for me, my
orgies were without either a mask or a blush, after the manner of my brother
renegadoes. I remember in particular two of my bottle companions, with
whom I often drank down the night before we rose from table. One wasa
Jew, and the other an Arabian. I took them to be good sort of people; and,
with that impression, lived in unconstrained familiarity with them. One even-
ing I invited them to sup at my house. On that very day a dog of mine died
—it was a pet; we performed our pious ablutions on his lifeless clay, and buried
him with all the solemn obsequies attendant on a Mahometan funeral. This
act of ours was not designed to turn the religion we outwardly professed into
ridicule; it was only to furnish ourselves with amusement, and give loose to a
ludicrous whim which struck us in the moment of jollity, that of paying the
last offices of humanity to my dog.
This action was, however, very near laying me by the heels. On the follow-
ing day there came a fellow to my house, saying, Master Sidy Hali, it is no
laughing matter that induces me to pay you this visit. My employer, the cadi,
wants to have a word in your ear; be so good, if you please, as just to step to
his office, without loss of time. An Arabian merchant, who supped with you
last night, has laid an information respecting a certain act of irreverence perpe-
trated by you, on occasion of a dog which you buried. It is on that charge that
I summon you to appear this day before the judge; and in case of failure, you
are hereby warned that you will be the subject of a criminal prosecution. Away
went he, leaving me to digest his discourse ; but the citation stuck in my throat,
and took away my appetite. The Arabian had no reason whatever to set his
face against me; and I could not comprehend the meaning of the dog’s trick
the scoundrel had played me. ‘The circumstance at all events demanded my
Marabut. The first gymnosophists of Ethiopia most prohably were nothing,
more.—TRANSLATOR,
188 GIL BLAS.
prompt attention. I knew the cadi’s character: a saint on the outside, butia
sinner in his heart. Away went I therefore to wait on this judge, but not with
empty pockets. He sent for me into his page room, and began upon me in
all the vehemence of pious indignation: You are a fellow rejected out of .
dise! a blasphemer of our holy law! a man loathsome and abominable to
look upon! Vou have performed the funeral service of a Mussulman over a
dog. at an act of sacrilege! Is it thus, then, that you reverence our most
holy ceremonies? Have you only turned Mahometan to laugh at our devotions
and our rites? My honoured master, answered I, the Arabian who has told
you such a cock-and-bull story is a wolf in sheep’s clothing; and more than
that, he is even an accomplice in my crime, if it is one, to grant such rest as to
peace-parted souls to a faithful household servant, to an animal with more good
qualities than half the two-legged Mahometans out of Christendom. His
attachment besides to people of merit and consideration in the world was at
once moral and sensible; and at his death he left several little tokens of remem-
brance to his friends. By his last will and testament, he bequeathed his effects
in the manner therein mentioned, and did me the honour to name me for his
executor, This old crony came in for twenty crowns, that for thirty, and
another for a cool hundred; but your worship is interested deeply in this instru-
ment, pursued I, drawing outymy purse ; he has left you residuary legatee,
and here is the amount of Riis, all The cadi’s gravity could not but relax,
after the posthumous kindness of his deceased friend ; and he laughed outright
in the face of the mock executor. As we were alone, there was no occasion
to make wry mouths at the purse, and my acquittal was pronounced in these
words: Go, Master Sidy Hali; it was avery pious act of yours, to enlarge
the obsequies of a dog, who had so manly a fellow-feeling for honest folks.
By this device I got out of the scrape; and if the hint did not increase my
religion, it doubled my circumspection, I was determined no longer to open
either my cellar or my soul in presence of Arabian or Jew. My bottle com-
anion henceforward was a young gentleman from Leghorn, who had the
Eiiandas of being my slave. His name was Azarini. I was of another kidney
from renegadoes in general, who impose greater hardships. on their Christian
slaves than do the Turks themselves. All my captives waited for the period
of their ransom, without any impatient hankering after home. My behaviour
to them was, in truth, so gentle and fatherly, that many of them assured me
they were more afraid of changing their master than anxious after their liberty ;
whatever magic that word may have to the ears of those who have felt what it
is to be deprived of it.
One day the bashaw’s corsairs came into port with considerable prizes.
Their cargo amounted to more than a hundred slaves of either sex, carried off
from the Spanish coast. Soliman retained but a very small number, and all
the rest were sold. I peppers to go to market, and bought a Spanish girl,
ten or twelve years old. She cried as if her heart would break, and looked the
picture of despair. It seemed strange, that at her age slavery should make such
an impression on her. I told her, in Castilian, to combat with her terrors: and
assured her that she was fallen into the hands of a master who had not put off
humanity when he took up the turban. The little mourner, not initiated in the
trade of grief, pursued the subject of her lamentations without listening to me.
Her whole soul seemed to be breathed in her sighs ; she descanted on her wretch-
ed fate, and exclaimed from time to time in softened accents: O my mother,
why were we ever parted? I could bear my lot with patience, might we share
it together. ‘With these lamentations on her lips, she turned round towards a
woman of from five-and-forty to fifty, standing at the distance of several paces,
and waiting with her eyes fixed to the ground, in a determined, sullen silence,
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL, 189
till she met with a purchaser. I asked my young bargain if the lady she was
looking at was her mother. Alas! she is, indeed, sir, replied the girl; for the
love of God, do not let me be parted from her. Well, then, my distressed little
damsel, said I, if it will give you any pleasure, there is no more to do than to
settle you both in the same quarters, and then you will give over your murmur-
ing. On the very moment I went up to the mother, with the intention of cheap-
ening her; but no sooner did I cast my eyes on her face, than I knew again,
with what emotion you may guess! the very form and pressure of Lucinda.
Just heaven! said I within myself, this is my mother! Nature whispers it in
my ear, and can I doubt her evidence? On her part, whether a keen resent-
ment of her woes pointed out an enemy in every object on which she glanced,
or else it might be my dress that disfigured me;.... or else I might have grown
a little older in about a dozen years since she had seen me.... but however
historians may account for it, she did not know me. But I knew her, and
bought her: the pair were sent home to my house.
When they were safely lodged, I wished to surprise them with the pleasure
of ascertaining who I was. Madam, said I to Lucinda, is it possible that my
features should not strike you? ’Tis true, I wear whiskers and a turban : but
is Raphael less your son for that? My mother thrilled through all her frame
at these words, looked at me with an eager gaze, my whole self rushed into her
recollection, and into each other’s arms we affectionately flew. I then caressed,
in moderated ecstasies, her daughter, who perhaps knew as much about having
a brother as I did about having a sister. Tell the truth, said I to my mother ;
in all your theatrical discoveries, did you ever meet with one so truly natural
and dramatic as this? My dear son, answered she, in an accent of sorrow, the
first sight of you after so long a separation overwhelmed me with joy, but the
revulsion was only the more deeply distressing. In what condition, alas! do I
again behold you? My own slavery is a thousand times less revolting to my
feelings than the disgraceful habiliments..... Heyday! By all the powers,
madam, interrupted I with a hearty laugh, I am quite delighted with your
newly-acquired morality: this is excellent in an actress. Well! well! as
heaven is my judge, my honoured mamma, you are mightily improved in your
principles, if my transformation astounds your religious eyesight. So far from
quarrelling with your turban, consider me rather as an actor, playing a Turkish
character on the stage of the world. Though a conformist, I am just as much
a Mussulman as when I was in Spain ; nay, in the bottom of my heart, I never
was a more firm believer in our Christian creed than at the present moment.
When you shall become acquainted with all my hair-breadth escapes, since I
have been domesticated in this country, you will not be rigorous in your censure.
Love has been the cause of my apostasy, and he who worships at that shrine
may be absolved from all other infidelities. I have a little of my mother in
me, take my word for it. Another reason besides ought to moderate your dis-
gust at seeing me under my present circumstances. You were expecting to ex-
perience a harsh captivity in Algiers, but you find in your protector a son, with
all the tenderness and reverence befitting his relation to you, and rich enough to
maintain you here in plenty and comfort, till a favourable opportunity offers of
returning with safety into Spain. Admit, therefore, the force of the proverb,
which says that evil itself is good for something.
My dear son, said Lucinda, since you fully intend one day to go back into
your own country, and to throw off the mantle of Mahomet, my scruples are all
satisfied. Thanks to heaven, continued she, I shall be able to carry back your
sister Beatrice safe and sound into Castile. Yes, madam, exclaimed I, so you
may. We will all three, as soon as the season may serve, go and throw our-
selves into the bosom of our family: for I make no matter of doubt but you
190 GIL BLAS.
have still in Spain other indisputable evidences of your prolific powers. No,
said my mother, I have only you two, the offspring of my body; and you are to
know that Beatrice is the fruit of a marriage, manufactured in as workmanlike
a manner as any within the pale of the church. And pray, for what reason,
replied I, might not my little sister have been just as contraband as myself?
How did you ever work yourself up to the formidable resolution of marrying ?
I have heard you say a hundred times, in my childhood, that there was no bene-
fit of clergy for a pretty woman who could commit such an offence as to take
up with a husband. Times and seasons ebb and flow, my son, rejoined she.
Men of the most resolute character may be shaken in their purposes: and do
you require that a woman should be inflexible in hers? But I will now relate
to you the story of my life since your departure from Madrid. She then began
the following recital, which will never be obliterated from my memory. I will
not withhold from you so curious a narrative.
It is nearly thirteen years, if you recollect, said my mother, since you left
‘young Leganez. Just at that time, the Duke of Medina Celi told me that he
had a mind to sup with me one evening in private. The day was fixed. I
made preparations for his reception: he came, and I pleased him. He required
from me the sacrifice of all his rivals, past, present, and to come. I came into
his terms, in the hope of being well paid for my complaisance. There was no
deficiency on that score. On the very next morning, I received presents from
him, which were followed up by a long train of kindred attentions. I was afraid
of not being able to hold in my chains a man of his exalted rank: and this ap-
ey pretes was the better founded, because it was a matter of notoriety, that he
ad escaped from the clutches of several celebrated beauties, whose chains he
had worn, only for the purpose of breaking. But for all that, so far from sur-
feiting on the relish of my kindness, his appetite grew by what it fed on. In
short, I found out the secret of entertaining him, and impounding his heart,
naturally roving, so that it should not go astray according to its usual volatility.
He had now been my admirer for three months, and I had every reason to
flatter myself that the arrangement would be lasting, when a lady of my ac-
quaintance and myself happened to go to an assembly, where the duchess his
wife was of the party. We were invited to a concert of vocal and instrumental
music. We accidentally seated ourselves too near the duchess, who took it
into her head to be affronted, that I should exhibit my person in a place where
she was. She sent me word by one of her women, that she should take it as a
favour if I would quit the room immediately. I sent back an answer, just
as saucy as the message. The duchess, irritated to fury, laid her wrongs before
her husband, who came to me in person, and said: Retire, Lucinda. Though
noblemen of the first rank attach themselves to pretty playthings like roar.
it is highly unbecoming in you to forget your proper distance. If we love you
better than our wives, we honour our wives more than you: whenever, there-
fore, your insolence shall go so far as to set yourselves up for their rivals under
their very noses, you will always be mortified, and made to know your places.
Fortunately the duke held his cruel language to me in so low a tone of voice
as not to have been overheard by the people about us. I withdrew in deep
confusion, and cried with vexation at having incurred such an affront. At
once, to crown my shame and aggravate my chastisement, the actors and ac-
tresses got hold of the story on the very same evening. To do them justice,
these gentry must contrive to entertain a familiar spirit, whose business is to fly
about, and whisper in the ear of one whatever falls out amiss to the other.
Suppose, for instance, that an actor gets drunk and makes a fool of himself, or
an actress gets hold of a rich cully and makes a fool of him! The green-room
is sure to ring with all the particulars, and a few more than are frue. my
|
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL. 191
kindred of the sock and buskin were informed at once of what had happened
at the concert, and a blessed life they led me with their quips and quiddities.
Never was there charity like theirs, Without beginning at home, heaven only
knows where it ends! But I held myself too high to be affected by their jibes
and jeers: nor did even the loss of the Duke de Medina Celi hang heavy on
my spirits ; for true it was, I never saw him more at my toilette, but learned, a
very short time after, that he had got into the trammels of a little warbler.
When a theatrical lady has the good luck to be in fashion, she may change
her lover as often as her petticoat: and one noble fool, should he even recover
his wits at the end of three days, serves excellently well for a decoy to his suc-
cessor. No sooner was it buzzed about Madrid, that the duke had raised the
siege, than a new host of would-be conquerors appeared before the trenches.
The very rivals whom I had sacrificed to his wishes, looking at my charms
through the magnifying medium of delay and disappointment, came back
again in crowds to encounter new caprices ; to say nothing of a thousand fresh
hearts, ready to bargain on the mere report of my being to let. I had never
been so exclusively the mode. Of all the men who put in for being cajoled by
me, a portly German, belonging to the Duke of Ossuna’s household, seemed to
bid highest. Not that his personal attractions were by any means the most
catching ; but then there were a thousand amiable pistoles on the list of candi-
dates, scraped together by perauisites in his master’s service, and turned adrift
with the prodigality of a prince, in the hope of becoming my favoured lover.
This fat pigeon to be plucked was by name Brutandorf. As long as his pockets
were lined, his reception was warm: empty purses meet. with fastened doors.
The principles on which my friendship rested were not altogether to his taste.
He came to the play to look after me during the performance. I was behind
the scenes. It was his humour to load me with reproaches ; it was mine to
laugh in his face. This provoked his boorish wrath, and he gave me a box on
the ear, like a clumsy-fisted German as he was, I set up a loud scream: the
business of the stage was suspended. I came forward to the front, and, ad-
dressing the Duke of Ossuna, who was at the play on that occasion with his
lady duchess, begged his protection from the German gallantry of his establish-
ment. The duke gave orders for our proceeding with the piece, and intimated
that he would hear the parties after the curtain had dropped. At the conclu-
sion of the play I presented myself in all the dreary pomp of tragedy before the
duke, and laid open my griefs in all the majesty of woe. As for my German
pugilist, his defence was on a level with his provocation ; so far from being
sorry for what he had done, his fingers itched to give me another dressing.
The cause being heard pro and con, the Duke of Ossuna said to his Scandina-
vian savage : Brutandorf, I dismiss you from my service, and beg never to see
anything more of you, not because you have given a box on the ear to an
actress, but for your failure in respect to your master and mistress, in having
presumed to interrupt the progress of the play in their presence.
This decision was a bitter pill for me to swallow. It was high treason
against my histrionic majesty, that the German was not turned off on the
ground of having insulted me. It seemed difficult to conceive the possibility
of a greater crime than that of insulting a principal actress : and where crimes
are parallel, punishments should tally. The retribution in this case would
have been exemplary; and I expected no less. This unpleasant occurrence
undeceived me, and proved, to my mortification, that the public distinguished
between the actors and the personages they may chance to enact. On this
conviction, my pride revolted at the theatre: I resolved to give "P my en-
ements to go and live at a distance from Madrid. I fixed on the city of
alencia for the place of my retreat, and went thither under a feigned char-
192 GIL BLAS.
acter, with a property of twenty thousand ducats in money and jewels: a sum
in my mind more than sufficient to maintain me for the remainder of my days,
since it was my purpose to lead a retired life. I rented a small house at Va-
lencia, and limited my establishment to a female servant and a page, who were
as ignorant of my birth, parentage, and education, as the rest of the town. I
gave myself out for the widow of an officer belonging to the king’s household,
and intimated that I had made choice of Valencia for my residence, on the
report that it was one of the most agreeable neighbourh in Spain. I saw
very little company, and maintained so reserved a deportment, that there
never was the slightest suspicion of my having been an actress. Yet, not-
withstanding all the pains I took to hide myself from the garish eye of day, I
had worse success against the piercing ken of a gentleman, who had a country
seat near Paterna. He was of an ancient family, in person genteel and manly,
from five-and-thirty to forty years of age, nobly connected, but scandalously in
debt ; a contradiction in the vocabulary of honour, neither more unaccountable
nor uncommon in the kingdom of Valencia, than what takes place every day
in other parts of the civilized world.
This gentleman of a generation or two before the present, finding my person
to his liking, was desirous of knowing if in other respects I was a commodity
for his market. He set every engine at work to inquire into the most minute
particulars, and had the pleasure to learn from general report, that I was a
warm widow with a comfortable jointure, and a person little, if anything, the
worse for wear. It struck him that this was just the match ; so that in a very
short time an old lady came to my house, telling me, from him, that with equal
admiration of my virtues and my charms, he laid himself and his fortune at my
feet, and was ready to lead me to the altar, if Icould condescend so far as to
become his wife. I required three days to make up my mind on the subject.
In this interval, I made inquiries about the gentleman ; and hearing a good
character of him, notwithstanding the deranged state of his finances, it was my
determination to marry him without more ado, so that the preliminaries were
soon ratified by a definitive treaty.
Don Manuel de Xerica, for that was my husband’s name, took me immediately
after the ceremony to his castle, which had an air of antiquity highly flattering
to his family pride. He told a story about one of his ancestors who built it in
days of yore, and because it was not founded the day before yesterday, jumped
to a conclusion that there was not a more ancient house in Spain than that of
Xerica. But nobility, like perishable merchandise, will run to decay; the
castle, shored up on this side and on that, was in the very agony of tumbling
to pieces : what a buttress for Don Manuel and for his old walls was his mar-
riage with me! More than half my savings were laid out on repairs ; and the
residue was wanted to set us going in a genteel style among our country neigh-
bours. Behold me, then, you who can believe it, landed on a new planet,
transformed into the presiding genius of a castle, the Lady Bountiful of my
parish : our stage machinery could never have furnished such a change! I was
too good an actress not to have supported my new rank and dignity with ap-
propriate grace. I assumed high airs, theatrical grandeurs, a most dignified
strut and demeanour ; all which made the bumpkins conceive a wonderful idea
of my exalted origin. How would they not have tickled their fancies at my
expense, had they known the real truth of the case! The gentry of the
neighbourhood would have scoffed at me most unmercifully, and the country
people would have been much more chary of the respect they shewed me.
It was now near six years that I had lived very happily with Don Manuel,
when he ended ways, means, and life together. My legacy consisted of a broken
fortune to splice, and your sister Beatrice, then more than four years old, to
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL. 193
maintain. The castle, which was our only tangible resource, was unfortunately
mortgaged to several creditors, the principal of whom was one Bernard Astuto.
Cunning by name, and cunning by nature! He practised as an attorney at
Valencia, and bore his faculties in all the infamy of pettifogging ; law and equity
conspired in his person to push the trade of cozening and swindling to the ut-
most extremity. To think of falling into the clutches of such a creditor! A
gentleman’s property under the gripe of such a claw as this attorney’s affords
much the same sport as a lamb to a wolf, or a dove toa kite. Nearly after the
fashion of these beasts and birds of prey, did Signor Astuto, when informed of
my husband’s death, hover over his victim, concealing his fell purpose under the
ambush of the law. The whole estate would have been swallowed up in plead-
ings, affidavits, demurrers, and rejoinders, but for the light thrown upon the pro-
ceedings by my lucky star; under whose influence the plaintiff was turned at
once into defendant, and was left without a reply to the arguments of these all-
powerful eyes. I got to the blind side of him in an interview, which I con-
trived during the progress of our litigation. Nothing was wanting on my part,
I own it frankly, to fill him brimful of the tender passion ; an ardent longing to
save my goods, chattels, and domain, made me practise upon him, to my own
disgust, that system of coquettish tactics and flirtation which had drawn so many
former fools into anambuscade. Yet, with all the resources of a veteran, I was
‘very near letting the attorney escape. He was so barricaded by mouldy parch-
ments, so immured in actions and informations, as scarcely to seem susceptible
of any love but the love of law. The truth, however, was, that this moping
pettifogger, this porer over ponderous abridgments, this scrawler of acts and
deeds, had more young blood in him than I was aware of, and a trick of look-
ing at me out of the corner of his eye. He professed to be a novice in the art
of courtship. My whole heart and soul, madam, said he, have been wedded
to my profession ; and the consequence has been, that the uses and customs of
gallantry have seemed weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable to me. oe though
not a man of outward show, Iam well furnished wi é stock in trade of love.
To come to the point at once, if you can resolve in your mind to marry me, we
will make a grand bonfire of the whole lawsuit ; and I will give the go-by to
those rascally creditors, who have joined issue with me in our attack upon your
estate. You shall have the life interest, and your daughter the reversion. So
good a bargain for Beatrice and myself would not allow of any wavering: I
closed without delay on the conditions. The attorney kept his word most
miraculously : he turned short round upon the other creditors, defeated them
with the very weapons himself had furnished with their joint campaign, and se-
cured me in the possession of my house and lands. It was probably the first
time in his life that he had taken up the cause of the widow and the orphan.
Thus did I become the honoured wife of an attorney, without losing my rank
as the lady of the manor. But this incongruous marriage ruined me in the
esteem of the gentry about Valencia. The women of quality looked upon me
as a person who had lowered herself, and refused any longer to visit me. This
inevitably threw me on the acquaintance of the tradespeople ; a circumstance
which could not do otherwise than hurt my feelings a little at first, because I had
been accustomed, for the last six years, to associate only with ladies of the
higher classes. But it was in vain to fret about it ; and I soon found my level.
I got most intimately acquainted with the wives of my husband’s brethren of the
quill and brief. Their characters were not a little entertaining, There was an
absurdity in their manners, which tickled me to the very soul. These trumpery
fine ladies held themselves up for something far above the common run. Well-
a-day ! said I to myself, every now and then, when they forgot the blue-bag :
this is the way of the world! Every one fancies himself to be something vastly
194 GIL BLAS.
superior to his neighbour. I thought we actresses only did not know our places ;
women at the lower end of private life, as far as I see, are just as absurd in thcir
pretensions. I should like, by way of check upon their presumption, to pro-
pose a law, that family pictures and pedigrees should be hung up in every house.
Were the situation left to the choice of the owner, the deuce is in it if these
legal gentry would not cram their scrivening ancestors either into the cellar or
the garret.
After four years passed in the holy state of wedlock, Signor Bernardo
d’Astuto.fell sick, and went the way of allflesh, Wehad no family. Between
my settlement and what I was worth before, I found myself a well-endowed
widow. I had too the reputation of being so; and on this report, a Sicilian
gentleman, by name Colifichini, determined to stick in my skirts, and either
ruin or marry me. The alternative was kindly left tomy own choice. He was
come from Palermo to see Spain, and, after having satisfied his curiosity, was
waiting, as he said, at Valencia for an opportunity of taking his passage back to
Sicily. The spark was not quite five-and-twenty ; of an elegant, though di-
minutive person ;.... in short, his figure absolutely haunted me. He found
the means of getting to the speech of me in private; and, I will own it to you
frankly, I fell distractedly in love with him from the moment of our very first in-
terview. On his part, the little knave flounced over head and ears in admiration
of my charms, I do really think, God forgive me for it, that we should have
been married out of hand, if the death of the attorney, whose funeral baked
meats were scarcely cold enough to have furnished forth the marriage tables,
would have allowed me to contract a new engagement at so short a warning.
But since I had got into the matrimonial line, it was necessary that where the
church makes the feast, the devil should not send cooks ; I therefore took care
always to season my nuptials to the palate of the world at large.
Thus did we agree to delay our coming together for a time, out of a tender
regard to appearances. Colifichini, in the mean time, devoted all his attentions
to me : his passion, far from languishing, seemed to become more a part of him-
self from day to day. The poor lad was not too flush of ready money. This
struck my observation; and he was no longer at a loss for his little pocket ex-
penses. Besides being very nearly twice his age, I recollected having laid the
men under contribution in my younger days ; so that I looked upon what I was
then lavishing as a sort of restitution, which balanced my debtor and creditor
account, and made me quits with my conscience. We waited, as patiently as
our frailty would allow, dor the period when widows may in decency so far sur-
mount their grief as to try their luck again. When the happy morning rose,
we presented ourselves before the altar, where we plighted our faith to each
other by oaths the most solemn and binding. We then retired to my castle,
where I may truly say that we lived for two years, less as husband and wife
than as tender and unfettered lovers. But alas! such an union, so happy and
sentimental, was not long to be the lot of humanity : a pleurisy carried off my
dear Colifichini.
At this passage in her history, I interrupted my mother. Heyday! madam,
your third husband dispatched already? You must be a most deadly taking.
‘What do you mean? answered she: is it for me to dispute the will of heaven,
and lengthen the days parcelled out to every son of earth? If I have lost three
husbands, it was none of my fault. ‘Two of them cost me many a salt tear. If
I buried ay with dry eyes, it was the attorney. As that was merely a match
of interest, I was easily reconciled to the loss of him. But to return to Colifi-
chini, I was going to tell you, that some months after his death, I had a mind
to go and take possession of a country house near Palermo, which he had settled
on me as a jointure, by our marriage contract. I took my passage for Sicily
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL. ; 195
with my daughter; but we were taken on the voyage by Algerine corsairs,
This city was our destination. Happily for us, you happened to be at the
market where we were put up for sale. Had it been otherwise, we must have
fallen into the hands of some barbarian purchaser, who would have used us ill ;
and we probably might have passed our whole life in slavery, nor would you
ever have heard of us.
Such was my mother’s story. Toreturn to my own, gentlemen, I gave her the
best apartment in my house, with the liberty of living after her own fashion ;
which was a circumstance very agreeable to her taste. She had a confirmed
habit of loving, brought to such a system by so many repeated experiments, that
it was impossible for her to do without either a gallant ora husband. At first
she looked with favour on someof my slaves; but Hali Pegelin, a Greek renegado,
who sometimes came and called upon us, soon drew all her glances on himself.
She conceived a stronger passion for him than she had ever done for Colifichini :
and such was her aptitude for pleasing the men, that she found the way to wind
herself about the heart of this man also. I seemed as if unconscious of their
good understanding ; being then intent only on my return into Spain. The
bashaw had already given me leave to fit out a vessel, for the purpose of sweep-
ing the sea and committing acts of piracy. This armament was my sole object.
Just a week before it was completed, I said to Lucinda: Madam, we shall take
our leave of Algiers almost immediately ; so that you will bid a long farewell
to an abode which you cannot but detest.
My mother turned pale at these words, and stood silent and motionless. My
surprise was extreme. What do I see? said I to her: whence comes it that
you present such an image of terror and despair? My design was to fill you
with transport ; but the effect of my intelligence seems only to overwhelm you
with affliction. I thought to have been thanked for my welcome news ; and
hastened with eagerness to tell you that all is ready for our departure. Are you
no longer in the mind to go back into Spain? No, my son; Spain no longer
has any charms for me, answered my mother. It has been the scene of all my
sorrows, and I have turned my back onit for ever. What do I hear? exclaimed
I in an agony: ah! tell me rather, that it is a fatal passion which alienates you
from your native country. Just heavens! what a change! When you landed
here, every object that met your eyes was hateful to them, but Hali Pegelin has
given another colour to your fancy. I do not deny it, replied Lucinda: I love
that renegado, and mean to take him for my fourth husband. What an idea!
interrupted I with horror: you, to marry a Mussulman! You forget yourself
to be a Christian, or rather have hitherto been one only in name and not in
heart. Ah! my dear mother, what a futurity do you present to my imagina-
tion! You are running headlong to your eternal ruin. You are going to do
voluntarily, and from impure motives, what I have only done under the’ pres-
sure of necessity.
I urged many other arguments in the same strain, to turn her aside from her
purpose : but all my eloquence was wasted ; she had made up her mind to her
fitture destiny. Not satisfied with following the bent of her base inclinations,
and leaving her son to go and live with this renegado, she had even formed a
design to settle Beatrice in her own family. :This I opposed with all my might
and main. Ah! wretched Lucinda, said I, if nothing is capable of keeping
you within the limits of your duty, at least rush on perdition alone ; confine with-
in yourself the fury which possesses you; cast not a younginnocent headlong over
a precipice, though you yourself may venture on the leap, Lucinda quitted my
presence in moody silence. It struck me that a remnant of reason still en-
lightened her, and that she would not obstinately persevere in requiring her
daughter to be given up to her, How little did I know of my mother! One of
196 GIL BLAS.
my slaves said to me two days afterwards: Sir, take care of yourself. A cap-
tive belonging to Pegelin has just let me into a secret, of which you cannot too
soon avail yourself. Your mother has changed her religion ; and as a punish-
ment upon you for having refused Beatrice to her wishes, it is her purpose to
acquaint the bashaw with your flight. I could not fora moment doubt but what
Lucinda was the woman to do just what my slave had said she would, The
lady had given me manifold opportunities of studying her character; and it was
sufficiently evident that by dint of playing bloody parts in tragedy, she had
familiarized herself with the guilty scenes of real life. It would not in the least
have gone against her nature to have got me burned alive; nor probably would
she have been more affected by my exit after that fashion, than by the winding
up of a dramatic tale.
The warning of my slave, therefore, was not to be neglected. My embarkation
was hastened on. I took some Turks on board, according to the practice of the
Algerine corsairs when going on a piratical expedition: but I engaged no more
than was necessary to blind the eyes of jealousy, and weighed anchor from
the port as soon as possible, with all my slaves and my sister Beatrice. You
will do right to vos tg that I did not forget, in that moment of anxiety, to
pack up my whole stock of money and jewels, amounting probably to the
worth of six thousand ducats. When we were fairly out at sea, we began by
securing the Turks. They were easily mastered, as my slaves outnumbered
them. We had so favourable a wind, that we made the coast of Italy ina
very short time. Without let or hindrance, we got into the harbour of Leg-
horn, where I thought the whole city must have come out to see us land. The
father of my slave Azarini, either accidentally or from curiosity, happened to be
among the gazers. He looked with all his eyes at my captives, as they came
ashore; but though his object was to discover his lost son among the number,
it was with little hope of so fortunate a result. But how powerful is the plea
of nature! What transports, expressed by mutual embraces, followed the
recognition of a tie so close, but so painfully interrupted for a time!
As soon as Azarini had acquainted his father who I was, and what brought
me to Leghorn, the old man obliged me, as well as Beatrice, to accept of an
apartment in his house. I shall pass over in silence the description of a thou-
sand ceremonies, necessary to be gone through, in order to my return into the
bosom of the church; suffice it to say, that I forswore Mahometanism with
much more sincerity than I had pledged myself to it. After having entirely
purged myself from my Algerine leaven, I sold my ship, and set all my slaves
at liberty. As for the Turks, they were committed to prison at Leghorn, to
be exchanged against Christians. I received kind attention in abundance from.
the Azarini family: indeed, the young man married my sister Beatrice, who, to
speak the truth, was no bad match for him, being a gentleman’s daughter, and
inheriting the castle of Xerica, which my mother had taken care to let out to a
rich farmer of Paterna, when she resolved upon her voyage to Sicily.
From Leghorn, after having staid there some time, I departed for Florence,
a town I had a strong desire to see. I did not go thither without letters of
recommendation. Azarini the father had connections at the grand duke’s
court, and introduced me to them as a Spanish gentleman related to his family.
I tacked don to my name, in honest rivalry of impudence with other low
ays. who take up that travelling title of honour without compunction,
when far enough from home to set detection at defiance. Boldly then did I
dub myself Don Raphael; and pi epee at court with suitable splendour, on
the strength of what I had brought from Algiers, to keep my nobility from
starving. The high personages, to whom old Azarini had written in my favour,
gave out in their circle that I was a person of quality; so that with this testi
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL. 197
mony, and a natural knack I had of giving myself airs, the deuce must have
been in it if I could not have passed muster for a man of some consequence. I
soon got to be hand in glove with the principal nobility; and they presented
me to the grand duke. I had the ent fortune to make myself agreeable. It
then;became an object with me to pay court to that prince, and to study his —
humour. I sucked in with greedy ear all that his most experienced courtiers
said about him, and by their conversation fathomed all his peculiarities. Among
other things, he encouraged a play of wit; was fond of good stories and lively
repartees. On this hint I formed myself. Every morning I wrote down in
my pocket-book such anecdotes as I meant to rack off in the course of the day.
My stock was considerably extensive; so that I was a walking budget of bal-
derdash. Yet even my estate in nonsense required economy; and I began to
get out at elbows, so as to be reduced to borrow from myself, and mortgage
my resources twenty times over: but when the shallow current of wit and wis-
dom was nearly at its summer drought, a torrent of matter-of-fact lies gave
new force to the exhausted stream of quibble. Intrigues which never had been
intrigued, and practical jokes’ which had never been played off, were the tools
I worked with, and exactly to the level of the grand duke: nay, what often
happens to dull dealers in inextinguishable vivacity, the mornings were spent
in financiering those funds of conversation, which were to be drawn upon after
dinner, as if from a perennial spring of preternatural wealth.
I had even the impudence to set up for a poet, and made my broken-winded
muse trot to the praises of the prince. I allow candidly that the verses were
execrable ; but then they were quite good enough for their readers ; and it re-
mains a doubt whether, if they had been better, the grand duke would not have
thrown them into the fire. They seemed to be just what he would have writ-
ten upon himself. In short, it was impossible to miss the proper style on such
a subject. But whatever might be my merit as a poet, the prince, by little and
little, took such a liking to my person, as gave occasion of jealousy to his
courtiers. They tried to find out who I was. This, however, was beyond
their compass. All they could learn was, that I had been a renegado. This
was whispered forthwith in the prince’s ear, in the hopes of hurting me. Not
that it succeeded : on the contrary, the grand duke one day commanded me to
give him a faithful account of my adventures at Algiers. I obeyed ; and the
recital, without reserve on my part, contributed more than any other of my
stories to his entertainment.
Don Raphael, said he, after I had ended my narrative, I have a real regard
for you, and mean to give youa proof of it, which will place my sincerity be-
yond a doubt. Henceforth you are admitted into my most private confidence,
as the first fruits of which, you are to know that one of my ministers has a
wife, with whom I am in love. She is the most enchanting creature at court ;
but at the same time the most impregnable. Shut up in her own household,
exclusively attached to a husband who idolizes her, she seems to be ignorant of
the combustion her charms have kindled in Florence. You will easily conceive
the difficulty of such a conquest. And yet this epitome of loveliness, so deaf
to all the whispers of common seduction, has sometimes listened to my sighs.
I have found the means of speaking to her without witnesses. She is not un-
acquainted with my sentiments. Ido not flatter myself with having warmed
her into love ; she has given me no reason to form so sweet a conjecture. Yet
I will not despair of pleasing her by my constancy, and by the cautious con-
duct, even to mystery, which I take care to observe.
My passion for this lady, continued he, is known only to herself. Instead of
pursuing my game wantonly, and overleaping the rights of my subjects like a
true sovereign, I conceal from all the world the knowledge of my love. This
198 GIL BLAS.
delicacy seems due to Mascarini, the husband of my beloved mistress. His
zeal and attachment to me, his services and honesty, oblige me to act in this
business with the closest secrecy and circumspection. I will not plunge a dag-
ger into the bosom of this ill-starred husband, by declaring myself a suitor to
his wife. Would he might for ever be insensible, were it within possibility, to
the secret flame which devours me: for I am persuaded that he would die of
grief, were he to know the circumstances I have just now confided to you. I
therefore veil my pursuit in impenetrable darkness ; and have determined to
make use of you, for the purpose of conveying to Lucretia the merit of the
sacrifices my delicacy imposes on my feelings. Of these you shall be the inter-
preter. I doubt not but you will acquit yourself to a marvel of your commis-
sion. Contrive to be intimate with Mascarini; make a point of worming
yourself into his friendship. Then an introduction to his family will be easy;
and you will secure to yourself the liberty of conversing freely with his wife.
This is what I require from you, and what I feel assured that you will execute
with all the dexterity and discretion necessary to so delicate an undertaking.
I promised the grand duke to do my utmost, in furtherance of his good
opinion, and in aid of his success with the object of his desires. I kept my
word without loss of time. No pains were spared to get into Mascarinis
graces ; and the design was not difficult to accomplish. Delighted to find his
friendship sought by a man possessing the affections of the prince, he advanced
half way to meet my overtures. His house was always open to me, my inter-
course with his lady was unrestrained; and I have no hesitation in affirmi
my measures to have been taken so well, as to have precluded the slightest
suspicion of the embassy intrusted to my management. It is true, he had but
a small share of the Italian jealousy, relying as he did on the virtue of his Lu-
cretia; so that he often shut himself up in his closet, and left me alone with her.
I entered at once into the pith and marrow of my subject. The grand duke’s
passion was my topic with the lady; and I told her that the motive of my visits
was only to plead for that prince. She did not seem to be over head and ears
in love with him; and yet, methought, vanity forbade her to frown decisively on
his addresses, She took a pleasure in listening to his sighs, without sighing in
concert. A certain propriety of heart she had; but then she was a woman ;
and it was obvious that her rigour was giving way insensibly to the triumphant
image of a sovereign, bound in the fetters of her resistless charms. In short,
the prince had good reason to flatter himself that he might dispense with the
ill-breeding of a Tarquin, and yet bend Lucretia to a compliance with his long-
ings. An incident, however, the most unexpected in the annals of romance,
blasted his flattering prospects; in what manner you shall hear.
I am naturally free and easy with the women. This constitutional assurance,
whether a blessing or a curse, was ripened into inveterate habit among the
Turks. Lucretia was a pretty woman. I forgot that I was courting by proxy,
and assumed the tone of a principal. Nothing could exceed the warmth and
gallantry with which I offered my services to the lady. Far from appearing
offended at my boldness, or silencing me by a resentful answer, she only said
with a sarcastic smile: Own the truth, Don Raphael; the grand duke has
pitched upon a very faithful and zealous agent. You serve him with an in-
tegrity not sufficiently to be commended. Madam, said I in the same strain,
let us not examine things with too much nicety. A truce, I beseech you, with
moral discussions; they are not of my element: good honest passion tallies
better with our natures. I do not believe myself, after all, the first prince’s
confidant who has ousted his master in an affair of gallantry; your great lords
have often dangerous rivals, in more humble messengers than myself. That
may be, replied Lucretia ; but a haughty temper stands with me in the place of
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL. 199
virtue, and no one under the degree of a prince shall ever sully these charms,
Regulate your behaviour accordingly, added she in a tone of serious severity,
and let us change the subject. I willingly bury your presumption in oblivion,
provided you never hold similar discourse to me again: if you do, you may
repent of it. a
Though this was a comment of some importance on my text, and ought to
have been heedfully conned over, it was no bar to my still entertaining Masca-
rini’s wife with my passion. I even pressed her with more importunity than
heretofore, for a kind consent to my tender entreaties ; and was rash enough
to feel my ground, by some little personal freedoms. The lady then, offended
at my words, and still more at my Mahometan quips and cranks, gave a com-
plete set down to my assurance: She threatened to acquaint the grand duke
with my impertinence ; and declared she would make a point of his punishing
me as I deserved. ‘These menaces bristled up my spirit in return. My love
turned at once into hatred, and determined me to revenge myself for the
contempt with which Lucretia had treated me. I went in quest of her hus-
band ; and after having bound him by oath not to betray me, I informed him
of his wife’s correspondence with the prince, and failed not to represent her as
distractedly enamoured of him, by way of heightening the interest of the scene.
The minister, lest the plot should become too intricately entangled, shut his
wife up, without any law but his own will, in a secret apartment, where he
placed her under the strict guard of confidential persons. While she was thus
kept at bay by the watch-dogs of jealousy, who prevented her from acquainting
the grand duke with her situation, I announced to that prince, with a melan-
choly air, that he must think no longer of Lucretia. I told him that Mascarini
had doubtless discovered all, since he had taken it into his head to keep a
guard over his wife: that I could not conceive what had induced him to sus-
pect me, as I flattered myself with having always behaved according to the
most approved rules of discretion in such cases. The lady might, I suggested,
have been beforehand, and owned all to her husband ; and had perhaps, in
concert with him, suffered herself to be immured, in order to lie hid from a
pursuit so dangerous to her virtue. The prince appeared deeply afflicted at
my relation. I was not unmoved by his distress, and repented more than once
of what I had done; but it was too late to retract. Besides, I must acknow-
ledge, a spiteful joy tingled in my veins, when I meditated on the distressed
condition of the disdainful fair, who had spurned my vows.
I was feeding with impunity on the pleasure of revenge, so palatable to all
the world, but most of all to Spaniards, when one day the grand duke, chatting
with five or six nobles of his court and myself, said to us: In what manner
would you judge it fitting for a man to be punished, who should have abused
the confidence of his prince, and designed to step in between him and his
mistress? The best way, said one of the courtiers, would be to have him torn
to pieces by four horses. Another gave it as his verdict, that he should be
soundly beaten, till he died under the blows of the executioner. The most
tender-hearted and merciful of these Italians, with comparative lenity towards
the culprit, wished only just to admonish him of his fault, by throwing him
from the top of a tower to the bottom. And Don Raphael, resumed the
nd duke after a pause, what is his opinion? The Spaniards, in all likeli-
ood, would improve upon our Italian severity, in a case of such aggravated
treachery.
I fully understood, as you may well suppose, that Mascarini had not kept
his oath, or that his wife had devised the means of acquainting the prince with
what had passed between her and me. My countenance sufficiently betokened
my inward agitation. But for all that, suppressing as well as I could my nsing
200 CLL BLAS.
emotion and alarm, I replied to the grand duke in a steady tone of voice—My
lord, the Spaniards are more generous ; under such circumstances, they would
pardon the unworthy betrayer of his trust, and by that act of unmerited good-
ness would kindle in his soul an everlasting abhorrence of his own villany.
‘Yes, truly, said the prince, and I feel in my own breast a similar spirit of for-
bearance. Let the traitor then be pardoned ; since I have myself only to blame
for having given my confidence to a man of whom I had no knowledge, but, on
the contrary, much ground of suspicion, according to the current of common re-
port. Don Raphael, added he, my revenge shall be confined to this single
interdict, Quit my dominions immediately, and never appear again in my
resence. I withdrew in all haste, less hurt at my disgrace, than delighted to
pete got off so cheaply. The very next day I embarked in a Barcelona ship,
just setting sail from the port of Leghorn on its return.
At this period of his history I interrupted Don Raphael to the following
effect. For a man of shrewdness, methinks you were not a little off your
guard, in trusting yourself at Florence for even so short a time, after having
discovered the prince’s love of Lucretia to Mascarini. You might well have
foreboded that the grand duke would not be long in getting to the knowledge
of your duplicity. Your observation is very just, answered the well-matched
son of so eccentric a mother as Lucinda: and for that reason, not trusting to
the minister’s promise of screening me from his master’s indignation, it had
been my intention to disappear without taking leave.
I got safe to Barcelona, continued he, with the remnant of the wealth I had
brought from Algiers ; but the greater part had been squandered at Florence
in enacting the Spanish gentleman. I did not stay long in Catalonia. Madrid
was the dear place of my nativity, and I had a longing desire to see it again,
which I satisfied as soon as possible ; for mine was not a témper to stand par-
leying with its own inclinations. On my arrival in town, I chanced to take up
my abode in a ready-furnished lodging, where dwelt a lady, by name Camilla.
Though at some distance from her teens, she was a very spirit-stirring creature,
as Signor Gil Blas will bear me out in saying ; for he fell in with her at Valla-
dolid nearly about the same time. Her parts were still more extraordinary
than her beauty ; and never had a lady with a character to let a happier talent
of inveigling fools to their ruin. But she was not like those selfish jilts,
who put out the cullibility of their lovers to usury. The pillage of the
plodding merchant, or the grave family man, was squandered upon the first
mbler or prize-fighter who happened to find his way into her frolicsome
ncy.
We loved one another from the first moment, and the conformity of our
tempers bound us so closely together, that we soon lived on the footing of joint
property. The amount, in sober sadness, was little better than a Sf rae: and
a few good dinners more reduced it to that ignoble negative of number. We
were each of us thinking, as the deuce would have it, of our mutual plea-
sures, without profiting in the least by those happy dispositions of ours for
living at the expense of other folks, Want at last gave a keener edge to our
wits, which indulgence had blunted. My dear Raphael, said Camilla, let us
carry the war into the enemy’s quarters, if you love me; for while we are as
faithful as turtles, we are as foolish ; and fall into our own snare, instead of
laying it for the unwary. You may get into the head and heart of a rich widow ;
I may conjure myself into the good graces of some old nobleman: but as for
this ridiculous fidelity, it brings no grist to the mill. Excellent Camilla, an-
swered I, you are beforehand with me. I was going to make the very same
propose. It exactly meets my ideas, thou paragon of morality. Yes; the
etter to maintain our mutual fire, let us forage for substantial fuel. As good
a
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL. 201
may always be extracted out of evil, those infidelities which are the bane of
other loves, shall be the triumph of ours.
On the basis of this treaty we took the field, At first, there was much cry
but little wool; for we had no luck at finding cullies. Camilla’ met with no-
thing but pretty fellows, with vanity in their hearts, tinsel on their backs, and
not a maravedi in their pockets ; my ladies were all of a kidney to levy, rather
than to pay contributions. As love left us in the lurch, we paid our devotions
at the shrine of knavery. With the zeal of martyrs to a new religion, did we
encounter the frowns of the civil power, whose myrmidons, as like the devil in
their nature as their office, were ordered on the look-out after us; but the
alguazil, with all the good qualities of which the corregidor inherited the con-
traries, gave us time to make our escape out of Madrid, for the good of the
trade and a small sum of money. We took the road to Valladolid, meaning to
set up in that town. I rented a house for myself and Camilla, who passed for
my sister, to avoid evil tongues. At first we kept a tight rein over our specu-
lative talents, and began by reconnoitring the ground before we determined on
our plan of operations.
One day a man accosted me in the street, with a very civil salutation, to this
effect—Signor Don Raphael, do you recollect my face? I answered in the
negative. Then I have the advantage of you, replied he, for yours is perfectly
familiar to me. I have seen you at the court of Tuscany, where I was then in
the grand duke’s guards. It is some months since I quitted that prince’s ser-
vice. I came into Spain with an Italian, who will not discredit the politics of
his country : we have been at Valladolid these three weeks. Our residence is
with a Castilian and a Galician, who are, without dispute, two of the best
creatures in the world. We live together by the sweat of our brows, and the
labour of our hands. Our fare is not abstemious, nor have we made any vow
against the temptations of a life about the court. If you will make one of our
party, my brethren will be glad of your company ; for you always seemed to
me a man of spirit, above all vulgar prejudices, in short, a monk of our
order.
Such frankness from this arch-scoundrel was met half-way by mine. Since
you talk to me with so winning a candour, said I, you deserve that I should be
equally explicit with you. In good truth I am no novice in your ntual; and if
my modesty would allow me to be the hero of my own tale, you would be con-
vinced that your compliments were not lavished on an unworthy subject. But
enough of my own commendations; proceed we to the point in question. With
all possible desire to become a member of your body, I shall neglect no oppor-
tunity of proving my title to that distinction. I had no sooner told this sharper
at all points, that I would agree to swell the number of his gang, than he con-
ducted me to their place of meeting, and introduced me in proper form. It
was on this occasion that I first saw the renowned Ambrose de Lamela. These
gentlemen catechised me in the religion of coveting my neighbour’s goods, and
doing as I would not be done by. They wanted to discern whether I played
the villain on principle, or had only some little practical dexterity ; but I shewed
them tricks which they did not know to be on the cards, and yet acknowledged
to be better than their own. They were still deeper lost in admiration, when
in cool disdain of manual artifice, as an every-day effort of ingenuity, I main-
tained my prowess in such combinations of roguery as require an inventive brain
and a og Sa judgment to support them. In proof of these pretensions, I related
the adventure of Jerome de Moyadas; and on this single specimen of my parts,
they conceived my genius of so high an order, as to elect me by common con-
sent for their leader. Their choice was fully justified by a host of slippery
devices, of which I was the master-wheel, the corner-stone, or according to
202 GIL BLAS.
whatever other metaphor in mechanics you may best express the soul of a con-
spiracy. When we had occasion for a female performer to heighten the interest,
Camilla was sent upon the stage, and played up to admiration in the parts she
had to perform.
Just at that period, our friend and brother Ambrose was seized with a longing
to see his native country once more. He went for Galicia with an assurance
that we might reckon on his return. The visit cured his patriotic sickness, As
he was on the road back, having halted at Burgos to strike some stroke of busi-
ness, an innkeeper of his acquaintance introduced him into the service of Signor
Gil Blas de Santillane, not borpetting to instruct him thoroughly in the state of
that gentleman’s affairs. Signor Gil Blas, pursued Don Raphael, addressing his
discourse to me, you know in what manner we eased you of your moveables in
a ready-furnished lodging at Valladolid; and you must doubtless have suspected
Ambrose to have been the principal contriver of that exploit, and not without
reason. On his coming into town, he ran himself out of breath to find us, and
laid open every particular of your situation, so that the associated swindlers
had nothing to do but to build on his foundation. But you are unacquainted
with the consequences of that adventure; you shall therefore have them on my
authority. Your portmanteau was made free with by Ambrose and myself.
We also took the liberty of riding your mules in the direction of Madrid, not
dropping the least hint to Camilla nor to our partners in iniquity, who must
have partaken in some measure of your feelings in the morning, at finding their
glory shorn of two such beams.
On the second day we changed our purpose. Instead of going to Madrid,
whence I had not sallied forth without an urgent motive, we passed by Zebreros,
and continued our journey as far as Toledo. Our first care, in that town, was
to dress ourselves in the genteelest style; then assuming the character of two
brothers from Galicia on our travels of mere curiosity, we soon got acquainted
in the most respectable circles. I was so much in the habit of acting the man
of fashion, as not easily to be detected; and as the generality of people are
blinded by a free expenditure, we threw dust-into the eyes of all the world, by
the elegant entertainments to which we invited the ladies. Among the women
who frequented our parties, there was one not indifferent tome. She appeared
more beautiful than Camilla, and certainly much younger. I inquired who
she was; and learned that her name was Violante, and that she was married to
an ungrateful spark, who soon grew weary of her chaste caresses, and was run-
ning after those of a prostitute, with whom he was in love. ‘There was no
need to say any more, to determine me on enthroning Violante the sovereign
lady and mistress of my thoughts and affections.
She was not long in coming to the mires of her conquest. I began by
following her about from place to cc and playing a hundred monkey tricks
to instil into her comprehension, that nothing would please me better than the
office of making her amends for the ill usage of her husband. ‘The pretty crea-
ture ruminated on my proffered kindness, and to such purpose as to let me
know in the end that my labour was not wasted on an ungrateful soil. I
received a note from her in answer to several I had transmitted by one of those
convenient old dowagers, in such high request throughout Spain and Italy.
The lady sent me word that her husband supped with his mistress every even-
ing, and did not return home till very late. It was impossible to mistake the
meaning of this. On that very night I planted myself under Violante’s win-
dows, and engaged her in a most tender conversation. At the moment of
parting, it was settled between us that every evening, at the same hour, we
should meet and converse on the same everlasting topic, without gainsaying any
such other acts of gallantry as might safely be submitted to the peering eye of day,
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL. : 203
Hitherto Don Balthazar, as Violante’s husband was called, had no reason to
complain of his forehead ; but I was a natural philosopher, and little satisfied
with metaphysical endearments. One evening, therefore, I repaired under
my lady’s windows, with the design of telling her that there was an end of life
and everything, if we could not come together on more accommodating terms
than from the balcony to the street ; for I had never yet been able to get into
the house. Just as I got thither, a man came within sight, apparently with the
view of dogging me. In fact, it was the husband returning earlier than usual
from his precious bit of amusement ; but observing a male nuisance near his
nunnery, instead of coming straight home, he walked backwards and forwards
in the street. It was almost a moot point with me what I ought to do. At
last, I resolved on accosting Don Balthazar, though neither of us had the
slightest knowledge of each other. Noble gentleman, said I, you would do me
a most particular favour by leaving the street vacant to me for this one night ;
I would do as much for you another time. Sir, answered he, I was just
going to make the same request to you. I am on the look-out aftera girl, over
whom a confounded fellow of a brother keeps watch and ward like a gaoler ;
and she lives not twenty yards from this place. I could wish to carry on my
project without a witness. We have the means, replied I, of attaining both our
ends without clashing ; for the lady of my desires lives there, added I, pointing
to his own house. We had better even help one another, in case of being
attacked. With all my heart, resumed he ; I will go to my appointment, and
we will make common cause if need be. Under this pretence he went away,
but only to observe me the more narrowly ; and the darkness of the night fa-
voured his doing so without detection.
As for me, I made up to Violante’s balcony in the simplicity of my heart.
She soon heard my signal, and we began our usual parley. I was not remiss
in pressing the idol of my worship to grant me a private interview in some safe
and practicable place. She was rather coy to my entreaties, as favours hardly
earned are the higher valued : at length she took a letter out of her pocket, and
flung it down tome. There, said she, you will find in that scrap of paper the
promise of what you have teased me so long about. She then withdrew, as the
hour approached when her husband usually came home. I put the note up
carefully, and went towards the place where Don Balthazar had told me that
his business lay. But that staunch husband, with the sagacity of an old sports-
man where his own wife was the game, came more than half-way to meet me,
with this question: Well, good sir, are you satisfied with your happy fortunes ?
I have reason to be so, answered I, And as for yourself, what have you done?
has the blind god befriended you? Alas! quite the contrary, replied he; that
impertinent brother, who takes such liberties with my beauty, thought fit to
come back from his country house, whence we hugged ourselves as sure that
he would not return till to-morrow. This infernal chance has put all my soft
and soothing pleasures out of tune.
Nothing could exceed the mutual pledges of lasting friendship which were
exchanged between Don Balthazar and me. To draw the cords the closer, we
made an appointment for the next morning in the great square. ‘This plotting
gentleman, after we had parted, betook himself to his own house, without giv-
ing Violante at all to understand that he knew more about her than she wished
him. On the following day he was punctual in the great square, and I was not
five minutes after him. We exchanged greetings with all the warmth of old
friendship ; but it was a vapour to mislead on his part, though a spark of hea-
venly flame on mine. In the course of conversation, this hypocritical Don Bal-
thazar palmed upon me a fictitious confidence, respecting his intrigue with the
lady about whom he had been speaking the night before. He put together a
204. GIL BLAS.
long story he had been manufacturing on that subject, and all this to hook me
in to tell him, in return, by what means I had got acquainted with Violante.
The snare was too subtle for me to escape ; I owned all with the innocence of
a new-born babe. I did not evenstick at shewing the note I had received from
her, and read the contents, to the following purport: ‘*I am yoing to-morrow ~
to dine with Donna Inez. You know where shelives. It is in the house of that
confidential friend that I mean to pass some happy moments along with you. It
is impossible longer to refuse a boon your patience has so well merited.”
Here indeed, said Don Balthazar, is an epistle which promises to crown all
your wishes at once. I congratulate you beforehand on your approaching happi-
ness. Hecould not help fidgeting and wriggling a little, while he talked in
these terms of his own household ; but all his hitches and wry faces passed off,
and my eyes were as fast sealed as ever. I was so full of anticipating titillations,
as not to think of noticing my new friend, who was obliged to get off as fast as
he could, for fear of betraying his agitation in my presence. He ran to acquaint
his brother-in-law with this strange occurrence. I know not what might
between them: it is only certain that Don Balthazar happened to knock at
Donna Inez’s door, just when I was at that lady’s house with Violante. We
were warned who it was, and I escaped by a back door exactly as he went in at
the front. As soon as I had got safe off, the women, whom the unexpected
visit of this troublesome husband had disconcerted a little, recovered their pre-
sence of mind, and with it so large a stock of assurance, as to stand the brunt
of his attack, and put him to a nonplus in ascertaining whether they had hid
me or smuggled me out. I cannot exactly tell you what he said to Donna Inez
and his wife ; nor do I believe that history will ever furnish any authentic par-
ticulars of the squabble.
In the mean time, without suspecting yet how completely I was gulled by
Don Balthazar, I sallied forth with curses in my mouth, and returned to the great
square, where I had appointed Lamela tomeet me. But no Lamela was there.
He also had his little snug parties, and the scoundrel fared better than his com-
rade. As I was waiting or him, I caught a glimpse of my treacherous associ-
ate, with a knowing smile upon his countenance. He made up to me, and in-
uired, with a hearty laugh, what news of my assignation with my nymph, under
the convenient roof of Donna Inez. I cannot conceive, said I, what evil spirit,
jealous of my joys, takes delight to nip them in their blossom : but after we had
embraced, kissed, protested, and, as it were, spoke the preeeee of our comedy,
comes the peaking cornuto of a husband (the furies away with him), and
knocks at the door in the instant of our encounter. There was nothing to be
done but to secure my retreat as fastas possible. So I got out ata back door,
sending to all the inhabitants of hell and its suburbs the jealous knave, who was
so uncivil as to search another lady’s house for his own horns. Iam sorry you
sped so ill-favouredly, exclaimed Don Balthazar, who was chuckling with in-
ward satisfaction at my disappointment. What a mechanical rogue of a hus-
band! I would advise you to shewno mercy to the wittol. Oh! you need not
teach me how to predominate over such a peasant, replied I. ‘Take my word
for it, a new quarter shall be added to his coat of arms this very night. His
wife, when I went away, told me not to be faint-hearted for such a trifle ; but
to place myself without fail under her windows at an earlier hour than usual,
for she was resolved to let me into the house ; and as a precaution against all
accidents, she begged me to bring two or three friends in my train, for fear of a
surprise. What a discreet and inventive lady! said he. I should have no ob-
jection to being of your party. Ah! my dear friend, exclaimed I, out of wits
with joy, and throwing my arms about Don Balthazar’s neck, how infinitely you
will oblige me! I will do more, resumed he; I know a young man, armed like
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL. 205
another Cesar, for either field of love or war ; he shall be of our number, and
you may then rely boldly on the sufficiency of your escort.
I knew not in what words to thank this seeming friend, so that my gratitude
might be equivalent to his zeal. To make short of the matter, I accepted his
proffered aid. Our meeting was fixed under Violante’s balcony early in the
evening, and we parted. He went in quest of his brother-in-law, who was the
hero in question. As for me, I walked about all day with Lamela, who had
no more misgivings than myself, though somewhat astonished at the warmth
with which Don Balthazar engaged in my interests. We slipt our own necks
completely into the noose. I own this was mere infatuation on our parts, whose
natural instinct ought to have warned us of ahalter. WhenI thought it proper
time to present myself under Violante’s windows, Ambrose and I took care to
’ be armed with smallswords. There we found the husband of my fair dame and
another man, waiting for us with a very determined air. Don Balthazar ac-
costed me, and introducing his brother-in-law, said : Sir, this is the brave officer
whose prowess I have extolled so highly to you. Make the best of your way
into your mistress’s house, and let no fear of the consequences be any bar to the
enjoyment of the most rapturous human bliss.
After a mutual interchange of compliments, I knocked at Violante’s door. It
was opened by a kind of duenna. In I went, and without looking back after
what was passing behind me, made the best of my way to the lady’s room.
While I was paying her my preliminary civilities, the two cut-throats, who had
followed me into the house, and had banged the door after them so violently
that Ambrose was left in the street, made their appearance. You may well
suppose that then was the appeal toarms. They both fell upon meat the same
time, but I shewed them some play. I kept them engaged on either side so
fiercely, that they were sorry perhaps not to have taken a safer road to their
revenge. The husband was run through the body. His brother-in-law, seeing
him on his travels to the shades below, made the best of his way to the door,
which the duenna and Violante had opened, to make their escape while we were
fighting. I ran after him into the street, where I met with Lamela once more,
who by dint of not being able to get a word out of the women, airmen | as they
did for their very lives, did not know exactly what he was to divine from the
infernal noise he had just heard. We got back to our inn. After packing up
what was best worth taking with us, we mounted our mules, and got out of
town, without waiting for daybreak or fear of robbers.
It was sufficiently clear that this business was not likely to be without its con-
sequences, and that a hue and cry would be set up in Toledo, which we should
act like wise men to anticipate by a retreat. We stayed the night at Villarubia.
At the inn where we put up, some time after our arrival, there alighted a trades-
man of Toledo on his way to Segorba. We clubbed our suppers. He related
to us the tragical catastrophe of Violante’s husband ; and so far was he from
suspecting us of being parties concerned, that we inquired into particulars with
the curious indifference of common newsmongers. Gentlemen, said he, just as
I was setting out this morning, the report of this melancholy event was handed
about. Every one was on the hunt after Violante ; and they say that the cor-
regidor, a relation of Don Balthazar, is determined on sparing no pains to dis-
“eat the perpetrators of this murder, So much for my knowledge of the
usiness,
The corregidor of Toledo and his police gave me very little uneasiness. But
for fear of the worst, I determined to precipitate my retreat from New Castile.
It occurred to me that Violante, when hunted out of her hiding-place, would
turn informer, and in that case she might give such a description of my person
to the clerks‘in office, as might enable them to put their scouts upon a right
nk GIL BLAS.
scent. For this reason, on the following day we struck out of the high road,
as a measure of safety. Fortunately Lamela was acquainted with three-fourths
of Spain, and knew by what cross paths we could get securely into Arragon.
Instead of going straight to Cuenca, we threaded the defiles of the mountains
overhanging that town, and arrived, by ways with which my guide was well
acquainted, at a grotto looking very much like a hermitage. In fact, it was the
very place whither you came yesterday evening to petition me for an asylum.
While I was reconnoitring the neighbourhood, which presented a most deli-
cious landscape to my view, my companion said to me, It is six years since I
travelled this way. At that time the grotto before us afforded a retreat to an
old hermit who entertained me charitably. He made me fare as hedid. I
remember that he was a holy man, and talked in such a strain as almost to
wean me from the vices and follies of this nether world. He may possibly be
still living ; I will ascertain whether it be so or not. With these words in his
mouth, Ambrose, under the influence of natural curiosity, alighted from his
mule, and went into the hermitage. He remained there some minutes, and
then returned, calling after me, and saying, Come hither, Don Raphael, come
and bear witness to a most affecting event. I dismounted immediately. We
tied our mules to a tree, and I followed Lamela into the grotto, where I descried
an old anchoret stretched at his length upon a couch, pale and at the point of
death. A white beard, very thick, hung down to his middle, and he held a
large rosary, most piously ornamented, in his clasped hands. Atthe noise
which we made in coming near him, he opened his eyes, upon which death
had already begun to lay his leaden hand; and after having looked at us for a
moment, said, ‘*‘ Whosoever you are, my brethren, profit by the spectacle which
presents itself to your observation. I have seen out forty years in the world,
and sixty in this solitude. But mark! At this eternal crisis, the time I have
devoted to my pleasures seems an age, and that on the contrary which has
been sacred to repentance, but a minute! Alas! I fear lest the austerities of
brother Juan should be found light in the balance with the sins of the licentiate
Don Juan de Solis.”
No sooner were these words out of his mouth than he breathed his last. We
were struck by the solemn scene. Objects of this kind always make some
impression even on the greatest libertines ; but our serious thoughts were of no
long duration. We soon forgot what he had been saying to us, and began making
an inventory of what the hermitage contained; an employment which was not
oppressively laborious, since the Roupeknld furniture extended no further than
what you remarked in the grotto. Brother Juan was not only in ill-furnished
lodgings; his kitchen, too, was in a very rustic plight. All the store laid in
consisted of some small nuts and some pieces of crusty barley bread as hard as
flint, which had all the appearance of having been impregnable to the gums of
the venerable man. I specify his gums, because we looked for his teeth, and
found they had all dropped out. The whole arrangement of this solitary
abode, every object that met our eyes, made us look upon this good anchoret
as a pattern of sanctity. One thing only staggered us in our opinion. We
opened a paper folded in the form of a letter, and lying upon the tabie, wherein
he besought the person who should read the contents, to carry his rosary and
sandals to the bishop of Cuenca. We could not make out in what spirit this
modern recluse of the desert could aim at making such a present to his bishop.
It seemed to us to tread somewhat on the heels of his humility, and to savour
of one who was a candidate for a niche in the calendar. ough indeed it
might be, that there was nothing in it but a simple supposition, that the bishop
was such another as himself; but whether his ignorance was really so extreme,
I shall not pretend to decide.
HISTORY OF DON RAPHAEL. 207
In talking over this subject, a very pleasant idea occurred to Lamela. Let
us take up our abode, said he, in this holy retreat. The disguise of hermits
will become us. Brother Juan must be laid quietly in the earth. You shall
personate him; and for myself, in the character of brother Anthony, I will go
and see what is to be done in the neighbouring towns and villages. Besides
that we shall be too cunningly ensconced for the prying curiosity of the corregi-
dor, since it is not to be supposed that he will think of coming hither to look
for us, I have some good connections at Cuenca, which may be of essential
service tous. I fell in with this odd whim, not so much for the reasons given
me by Ambrose, as in compliance with the humour of the thing, and as it were
to play a part in a dramatic piece. We made an excavation in the ground at
about thirty or forty yards from the grotto, and buried the old anchoret there
without any pompous rites, after having stripped him of his wardrobe, which
consisted of a single gown tied round the middle with a leathern girdle. We
likewise despoiled him of his beard to make me an artificial one: and finally,
after his interment, we took possession of the hermitage.
The first day our table was but meanly served ; the provisions of the de-
ceased were all we had to feed on; but on the following morning, before sun-
rise, Lamela set off to sell the two mules at Toralva, and returned in the even-
ing, laden with provisions and other articles which he had purchased. He
brought everything necessary to metamorphose us completely. For himself he
had provided a gown of coarse dark cloth, and a little red horse-hair beard, so
ingeniously appended to his ears, that one would have sworn it had been na-
tural. There is not a cleverer fellow in the universe for a frolic. Brother
Juan’s beard was also new-modelled, and adapted to the plumpness of my
face. My brown woollen cap completed the masquerade. In fact, nothing
was wanting to make us pass for what we were not. Our equipage was so
ludicrously out of character, that we could not look at one another without
laughing, under a garb so diametrically at variance with our general complexion.
With brother Juan’s mantle, I caught and kept his rosary and sandals; taking
the liberty of borrowing them for the time being from the bishop of Cuenca.
We had already been three days in the hermitage, without having been
interrupted by a living soul; but on the fourth, two countrymen came into
the grotto. ‘They brought bread, cheese, and onions, for the deceased, whom
they supposed to be still living. I threw myself on our miserable couch as
soon as they made their appearance; and it was not difficult to impose on
them. Besides that it was too dark to distinguish my features accurately,
I imitated the voice of brother Juan, whose last words I had heard, to the
best of my ability. They had no suspicion of the trick, though a good
deal surprised at finding another hermit there. Lamela, taking advantage
of their stupid wonder, said in a canting tone: My brethren, be not astonished
at seeing me in this solitude. I have quitted a hermitage of my own in
Arragon, to come hither and be a companion to the venerable and edifying
brother Juan, who, at his advanced age, wants a yoke-fellow to administer
to his necessities. The rustics lavished their clumsy panegyrics on the charity
of Ambrose, and congratulated themselves that they might triumph over their
neighbours, and boast of two holy personages residing in their country.
Lamela, laden with a large wallet which he had not forgotten among the
number of his purchases, went for the first time to reconnoitre the town of
Cuenga, which is but a very short distance from the hermitage. With a mor-
tified exterior, by which nature had dubbed him for a cheat, and the art of
making that natural deception go as far as possible, by a most hypocritical and
factitious array of features, he could not fail to play upon the feelings of the
charitable and humane, and those whom heaven has blessed with affluence,
208 GIL BLAS.
His knapsack bore testimony to the extravagance of their pious liberalities,
Master Ambrose, said.I on his return, I congratulate you on your happy knack
at softening the souls of all good Christians, As we hope to be saved!,one
would suppose that you had been a mendicant friar among the Capuchins. I
have done something else besides bringing in food for the convent, answered
he. You must know that I have ferreted out a certain lass called Barbara,
with whom I used to flirt formerly. She is as much altered as any of us: for
she also has addicted herself to a godly life. She forms a coterie with two or
three other sanctified dames, who are an example to the faithful in public, and
flounce over head and ears in every sort of private vice. She did not know me
again at first. What then, mistress Barbara, said I, is it possible that you
should have discharged one of your oldest friends from your remembrance,
your servant Ambrose? As I am a true Christian, Signor de Lamela, ex-
claimed she, I never thought to have turned you up in such a garbas that. By
what transformation are you become a hermit? This is more than I can tell
you just now, rejoined I. The particulars are rather long; but I will come to-
morrow evening and satisfy your curiosity. Nay, more; I will bring brother
Juan, my companion, along with me. Brother Juan, interrupted she, the
venerable hermit who has taken up his saintly residence near this town? You
do not know what you are saying ; he is supposed to be more than a hundred
years old. It is very true, said I, that he was of that age some little while
ago ; but time, in deference to his sanctity, has gone backward with him; and
he is grown considerably younger within these few days. He is at present just
about my turn of life. Say you so! Then let us have him too, replied Bar-
bara. I perceive there is something more in this mystery than the church will
be able to explain.
We did not miss our appointment with these whited sepulchres on the fol-
lowing night. To make our reception the more agreeable, they had laid out
a pene cla entertainment. Off went our beards and cowls, and vestments of
mortification ; and without any squeamishness we confessed our birth, educa-
tion, and real character, to these sisters in hypocrisy. On their part, for fear
of being behindhand with us in freedom from prejudice, they fairly let us see of
what pretended religionists are capable, when they drop the veil of the sanc-
tuary, and exhibit their unmanufactured faces. We spent ‘almost the whole
night at table, and got back to our grotto but a moment before daybreak, We
were not long’ in: repeating our visit; or, if the truth must be told, it was
nightly for three months ; till we had ate up more than two-thirds of our ways
and means in the company of these delicate creatures, But an unsuccessful
candidate for their favour got wind of our proceedings, and prated of our
whereabout in the ear of justice, which was to have been in motion towards the
hermitage this very day, to lay hold of our persons. Yesterday Ambrose,
while picking up eleemosynaries at Cuenca, stumbled upon one of our whining
sisterhood, who gave him a note, with this caution: A female friend of mine
has written me this letter, which I-was going to send to you by a man on pur-
ose, Shew it to brother Juan, and regulate your proceedings accordingly.
t was this very note, gentlemen, that Lamela gave me in your presence, which
occasioned us to take so abrupt a leave of our solitary dwelling.
Cu. Il.—Don Raphael's consultation with his company, and their adventures as
they were preparing to leave the wood,
WHEN Don Raphael had finished the narrative of his adventurous life, which,
with all the other qualities of a romance, had the tediousness, Don Alphonso,
according to the laws of good breeding, swore himself black in the face that
ADVENTURES IN THE WOOD. 209
he had been prodigiously entertained. After the usual exchange of compli-
ments, Signor Ambrose put in his oar, with an admonitory hint to the partner
of his exploits and peregrinations. Consider, Don Raphael, that the sun is
setting. It would not be amiss, methinks, to take counsel on what we are to
do. You are in the right, answered his comrade, we must determine on the
place of our destination. For my own part, replied Lamela, I am of opinion -
that we should get upon the road again without loss of time, reach Requena
to-night, and enter upon the territory of Valencia to-morrow, where we will go
to work full tilt at our old trade. I have some prognosticating twitches, which
tell me that we shall strike some good strokes in that quarter. His colleague,
from ample experience of his infallibility in such prophecies, voted on his side
of the question. As for Don Alphonso and myself, having nothing to do but
to follow the lead of these two worthy gentlemen, we waited, in silent acquies-
cence, the issue of this momentous debate.
Thus it was determined that we should take the direction of Requena ; and
all hands were piped to make the necessary arrangements. We made our
meal after the same fashion as in the morning, and the horse was laden with
the bottle, and with the remnant of our provisions. After a time, the approach
of night seemed to promise us that darkness so friendly, and even so necessary,
to the safety of our retreat ; and we were beginning our march through the
wood: but before we had gone a hundred paces, a light among the trees gave
us a subject of anxious speculation. What can be the meaning of that? said
Don Raphael; these surely must be blogd-hounds of the police from Cuenga,
uncoupled and eager for the sport, with a fresh scent of us in this forest, and
in full cry after their game. Iam of a very different opinion, said Ambrose ;
they are more likely to be benighted travellers taking shelter in the thicket till
daybreak. But there is no trusting to conjecture: I will examine into the real
truth. Stay you here all three of you; I will be back again instantly. No
sooner said than done; he stole, just as if he had been used to it, towards the
light, which was not far off; no brute or human thief of forest or city could
have done it better. With a gentle removal of the leaves and branches which
obstructed his passage, the whole scene was laid open to his silent contempla-
tion; and it afforded sufficient food. On the grass, round about a lighted
candle with a clod for its candlestick, were seated four men, just finishing a
meat pie, and hugging a pretty large bottle, which was at its last gasp, after
having sustained their alternate embraces for successive rounds. At some
paces from these gentry, he espied a lady and gentleman tied to the trees, and
a little further off, a carriage with two mules richly caparisoned. He deter-
mined at once in his own mind that the fellows carousing on the ground were
banditti; and the tenor of their talk assured him that he had not belied their
trade by his conjecture. The four cut-throats all avowed a like desire of pos-
sessing the female who had fallen into their hands; and they were proposing to
draw lots for her. Lamela, having made himself master of the business, came
back to us, and gave an exact account of all he had seen and heard.
My friends, said Don Alphonso on his recital, that lady and gentleman whom
the robbers have tied to trees, are probably persons of the first condition. Shall
we suffer scoundrels like these to triumph over their honour and take away
their lives? Put yourselves under my direction: let us assail the desperate out-
laws, and they will perish under our attack. With all my heart, said Don Ra-
phael. It is all one to me, I had just as soon engage on the right side as on
the wrong. Ambrose, for his part, protested that he wished for nothing better
than to lend a hand in so moral an enterprise, as it promised to combine much
profit with some share of honour. And indeed, if a man may speak a good
word for himself, danger stood better recommended than usual to my compre-
81D GIL BLAS.
L
hension; all the boiling courage of knighthood, pledged up to the knuckles or
the chin on the behalf of female innocence, was oozing out at every pore of this
chivalrous person. But, if we are to state facts in the spirit of history rather
than of romance, the danger was more in imagination than in reality. Lamela
having brought us word that the arms of the robbers were all piled up at the
distance of ten or twelve paces out of their reach, there was no difficulty in
securing the mastery of the field. We tied our horses to a tree, and drew near,
as softly as possible, to the spot where the robbers were seated. They were
debating with some impetuosity, and their vociferous argument was all in favour
of our covert attack. We got possession of their arms before they had any
suspicion of us. But the enemy was nearer than they imagined: too near to
miss aim, and they were all stretched lifeless on the ground.
During the conflict the candle went out, so that we proceeded in our business
by guess-work. We were not remiss, however, in unbinding the prisoners, of
whom fear had got such complete possession, that they had not their wits enough
about them to thank us for what we had done forthem. It must be allowed
that they could not at first distinguish whether they were to consider us as their
deliverers, or as a fresh gang who had taken them out of one furnace to cast
them hissing into another. But we recovered their spirits by the assurance,
that we should lodge them safely in a public-house which Ambrose mentioned
as not being more than half a mile off, whence they might take all necessary
measures to pursue their journey in whatever direction they thought proper.
After these words of comfort, which seemed to sink deep, we placed them in
their carriage, and conducted them out of the wood, holding their mules by the
bridle. Our clerical friends instituted a ghostly visitation to the pockets of the
vanquished banditti. Our next step was to recover Don Alphonso’s horse.
We also took to ourselves the steeds of the robbers, waiting as they were to be
released from the trees to which they were tied near the field of battle. With
this extensive cavalcade we followed brother Antony, mounted on one of the
mules, and conducting the carriage to the inn, whither we did not arrive in less
than two hours, though he had pledged his credit that the distance from the
wood was very short.
We knocked roughly at the door. Every living creature was napping, except
the fleas. The landlord and landlady got on their clothes in a hurry, and were
not at all annoyed at finding their rest disturbed by the arrival of an equipage,
which promised to do more for the good of the house than it eventually did.
The whole inn was lighted up in an instant. Don Alphonso and the stage-bred
son of Lucinda lent their assistance to the gentleman and lady in alighting from
the carriage, and acted as their ushers in leading the way to the room prepared
for them by the landlord. Compliments flew backwards and forwards like
shuttlecocks ; but we were not a little astonished at discovering the Count de
Polan himself and his daughter Seraphina, in the persons we had just rescued.
It would be difficult to represent by words the surprise of that lady, as well as
of Don Alphonso, when they recognized each other's features. The count took
no notice of it, his attention being engrossed by other matters. He set about
relating to us in what manner the robbers had attacked him, and how they
secured his daughter and himself, after having killed his postilion, a page, and
a valet-de-chambre. He ended with declaring how deeply he felt his obliga-
tion ; and that if we would call upon him at Toledo, where he should be ina
ee we should judge for ourselves whether he felt as a grateful heart ought
to feel.
His lordship’s daughter was not backward in her acknowledgments for her
timely rescue ; and as we were of opinion, that is, Raphael and myself, that we
should do a good turn to Don Alphonso by giving him an opportunity of a
THE COUNT DE POLAN AND SERAPHINA RESCUED. 21%
minute’s private parley with the young widow, we contrived to keep the Count
de Polan in play. Lovely Seraphina, said Don Alphonso to the lady in a low
voice, I no longer lament over the lot which obliges me to live like a man ban-
ished from civil society, since I have been so fortunate as to assist in the im-
portant service just rendered you. What then! answered she, with a sigh, is
it you who have saved my life and honour? Is it to you that we are so indebted,
myself equally with my father? Ah! Don Alphonso, why were you the instru-
ment of my brother’s death? She said no more upon the subject; but he con-
ceived clearly by these words, and by the tone in which they were pronounced,
that if he was over head and ears in love with Seraphina, she was equally out’
of her depth in the same passion,
BOOK THE SIXTH.
Cu. L.—The fate of Gil Blas and his Companions after they took leave of the
Count de Polan. One of Ambrose’s notable contrivances set off by the manner
of its execution.
THE Count de Polan, after having exhausted half the night in thanking us, and
protesting that we might reckon upon his substantial acknowledgments, sent
for the landlord to consult him on the best method of getting safely to Turis,
whither it was his intention to go. We had nothing to do with this nobleman’s
further progress, and therefore left him to take his own measures. Our de-
parture from the inn was now resolved on; and we followed Lamela like sheep
after the bell-wether.
After two hours’ travelling, the day overtook us near Campillo. We made
as expeditiously as possible for the mountains between that hamlet and Requena.
There we wore out the day in taking our rest and reckoning up our stock, which
the spoil of the robbers had considerably replenished, to the amount of more
than three hundred pistoles, the lawful ravage of their pockets. We began
our march again with the setting-in of the night; and on the following morning
reached the frontier of Valencia in safety. We got quietly into the first wood
that offered asa shelter. The inmost recesses of it were best suited to our pur-
pose, and led us on by winding paths to a spot where a rivulet of transparent
water was meandering in its slow and silent course, to incorporate with the
waters of Guadalaviar. The refreshing shade afforded by the foliage, and
the rich pasturage in which our toil-worn beasts so much delighted, would have
fixed this for the place of our halting, if our resolution had not been previously
taken to that effect.
We therefore alighted, and were preparing to pass the day very pleasantly,
but a good breakfast was amongst the foremost of our intended pleasures; and
we found that there was very little ammunition left. Bread was beginning to
be a nonentity ; and our bottle was becoming an evidence of the material
system, mere carnal leather without a vivifying soul. Gentlemen, said Ambrose,
scenery and the picturesque have but hungry charms for me, unless Bacchus
and Ceres preside over the landscape. Our provisions must be lengthened out.
For this purpose, away post Ito Xelva. It is a very pretty town, not more
than two leagues off. I shall soon make this little excursion. Speaking after
this manner, he slung the bottle and the wallet over a horse’s back, leaped
merrily into his seat, and shot out of the wood with a rapidity which seemed
to bid fair for a speedy return.
4
212 GIL BLAS.
He did not, however, come back quite so soon as he had given us reason to
expect. More than half the day had elapsed; nay, night herself was already
ranking up her dun and gloomy wings, to overshadow the thicket with a denser
orror, when we saw our purveyor once again, whose long stay was begin-
ning to give us some uneasiness, Our extreme wishes were lame and impotent,
compared with the abundance of his stores. He not only produced the bottle
filled with some excellent wine, and the wallet stuffed with game and poultry
ready dressed, to say nothing of bread ; the horse was laden besides with a
large bundle of stuffs, of which we could make neither head nor tail, He took
notice of our wonder, and said with a smile: I will lay a wager, neither Don
Raphael nor all the colleges of soothsayers upon earth can guess why I have
bought these articles. With this fling at our dulness, we untied the bundle,
and lectured on the intrinsic value of what we had been considering only as an
empty pageant. In the inventory was a cloak anda black gown of trailin
dimensions ; doublets, breeches, and hose to correspond; an inkstand an
writing paper, such as a secretary of state need not be ashamed of; a key, such
as a treasurer might carry; a great seal and green wax, such asa chancellor
might affix to his decrees. When he had at length exhausted the display of his
bargains, Don Raphael observed in a bantering tone—Faith and troth, Master
Ambrose, it must be confessed that you have made a good sensible speculation.
But pray, how do you mean to turn the penny on your purchase? Let me
alone for that, answered Lamela. All these things cost me only ten pistoles,
and it shall go hard but they bring us in above five hundred. The tens in
five hundred are fifty; a good improvement of money, my masters! I am not
a man to burden myself with a trumpery pedlar’s pack; and to prove to you
that I have not been making ducks and drakes of our joint stock, I will let you
into the secret of a plan which has just taken birth in my pericranium.
After having laid in my stock of bread, I went into a cook’s shop, where T
ordered a range of partridges, chickens, and young rabbits, half-a-dozen of
each, to be put instantly on the spit. While these relishing little articles were
roasting, in came a man in a violent passion, open-mouthed against the coarse
conduct of a tradesman to his consequential self. This faggot of observed
to the lord paramount of the dripping-pan: By St James! Samuel Simon is
the most wrong-headed retail desler in the town of Xelva. He has just insulted
me in his own shop before his customers. The skinflint would not trust me for
six ells of cloth, though he knows very well that my credit is as good as the
bank, and that no one could say he ever lost anything by me. Are not you
delighted with the outlandish monster? He has no objection to getting people
of fashion on his books. He had rather toss up heads or tails with them, than
oblige a plain citizen in an honest way, and be paid in full at the time appointed.
What a strange whim! But he is an infernal Jew. He will be taken in some
day or other! All the merchants on the Exchange are lying in wait to catch
him upon the hip; and his disgrace or ruin will be nuts to me.
While this reptile of the warehouse was thus spitting his spite and blurti
out many other ill-natured inuendos, there came over me a sort of astrologi
anticipation that I should be lord of the ascendant over this Samuel Simon. My
friend, said I to the man who was complaining against that hawker of damaged
goods, of what character is the strange fellow you are talking about? Of a con-
foundedly bad character, answered he in a pet. Depend on it, he is one of the
most extortionate usurers in existence, though with the affectation of not letti
his left hand know what his right gives away in charity. .He was a Jew, an
has turned Catholic; but rip your way into his heart if he has any, and you will
find him still as inveterate a ae as ever Pilate was. As for his conversion it
was all in the way of trade. . Sad
— on.
AMBROSE’S NOTABLE CONTRIVANCE. 213
I took in with greedy ear the whole invective of the shop-keeping declaimant,
and failed not, on coming out of the eating-house, to inquire for Samuel
Simon’s residence. A person directed me to the part of the town, and there
was no difficulty in finding out the house. It was not enough to skim my eye —
cursorily over his shop. I peered into every hole and corner of it; and my
imagination, always on the alert when any profit is to be picked up, has already
engendered a rogue’s trick, which only waits the period of gestation, when it
may turn out a bantling not unworthy to be fathered by the sanctimonious
servant of Signor Gil Blas. Straightway went I to the ready-made ware-
house, where I bought these dresses, into which we may stuff an inquisitor, a
notary, and an alguazil, and play the parts in the spirit of the solemn offices
they represent.
Ah! my dear Ambrose, interrupted Don Raphael, transported with rapture
at the suggestion, what a wonderful idea ! a glorious scheme indeed ! Iam quite
jealous of the contrivance. Willingly would I blot out the proudest quarter
from my escutcheon, to have owned an effort of genius so transcendent. Yes,
Lamela, I see, my friend, all the rich invention of the design, and you need be
at no loss for instruments to carry it into effect. You want two good actors to
play up to you; and you have not far to look for them. You have yourself
a face that can look sanctified, magisterial, or blood-thirsty at will, and may do
very well to represent the inquisition. My character shall be that of the notary ;
and Signor Gil Blas, if he pleases, may enact the alguazil. Thus are the per-
sons of the drama distributed : to-morrow we will play the piece, and’I will
pledge myself for its success, bating one of those unlucky chance medleys, which
turn awry the currents of the most pithy and momentous enterprises.
As yet Don Raphael’s masterpiece of roguery had made but a clumsy im-
pression on my plodding brain ; but the argument of the fable was developed
at supper-time, and the hinge upon which it turned was, to my mind, of an in-
genious contrivance. After having despatched part of our game, and bled our
bottle to the last stage of evacuation, we stretched our length upon the grass,
and soon fell fastasleep. Up with you! up with you! was the alarum of Signor
Ambrose, as the day began to dawn. People who have a great enterprise on
hand ought not to indulge themselves in indolence. A plague upon you, master
inquisitor, said Don Raphael, rubbing his eyes, you are confounded early on the
move! It is as good as an order for execution to master Samuel Simon. Many
a true word is spoken in jest, replied Lamela. Nay, you shall know more,
added he with a sarcastic grin. I dreamt last night that I was plucking the
hairs out of his beard. Was not that a left-handed dream for him, master se-
cretary? These pleasant hits were followed by a thousand others, which called
forth new bursts of merriment. Our breakfast passed off with the utmost gaiety ;
and when it was over, we made our arrangements for the pageant we had got
up. Ambrose arrayed himself in sables, as befitted so ghostly an instrument for
the suppression of vice. We also took to our official habits ; nor has the dig-
nity of magistracy been often more gravely represented than by Don Raphael
and myself. The making up of our persons was rather a tedious operation ;
for it was later than two o’clock in the afternoon when we sallied from the wood
to attend our call at Xelva. It is true, there was no hurry, since the play was
not to begin till the setting-in of the evening. That being the case, we jogged
on leisurely, and stopped at the gates of the town till the day was closed.
At that eventful hour, we left our horses where they were, to the care of Don
Alphonso, who was very well satisfied to have so humble a cast in the distribu-
tion, As for Don Raphael, Ambrose, and myself, our first visit was not to
Samuel Simon in person, but to a tavern-keeper who lived very nearhim. His
reverence the inquisitor walked foremost. In went he to the bar, and said
2t4 | GIL BLAS.
gravely to the landlord : Master, I want to speak a word with you in private.
The obsequious publican shewed us into a room, where Lamela, now that we
had got him to ourselves, said : I have the honour to be an unworthy member
of the holy office, and am come here on a business of very great importance.
At this intimation, the man of liquor turned pale, and answered in a tremulous
tone that he was not conscious of having given any umbrage to the holy inquisi-
tion. True, replied Ambrose with encouraging affability ; neither do we
meditate any harmagainst you. Heaven forbid, that august tribunal, too hasty
in its punishments, should make no distinction between guilt and innocence.
It is unrelenting, but always just : to become obnoxious to its vengeance, you
must have earned its displeasure by wickedness or contumacy. Be satisfied
therefore that it is not you who bring me to Xelva, but a certain dealer and chap-
man, by name Samuel Simon, A very ugly story about him has come round
tous. He is still a Jew in his heart, they say ; and has only embraced Chris-
tianity from sordid and secular motives. I command you, in the name of the
tremendous court I represent, to tell meall you know about thatman. Beware
how you are induced by good neighbourhood, or possibly by close friendship, to
gloss over and palliate his errors ; for, I warn you authoritatively, if I detect
the slightest prevarication in your evidence, you are yourself even as one of the
abandoned and accursed. Where is my secretary? pursued he, turning down
towards Don Raphael. Sit down and do your duty,
Mr Secretary, with his paper already in his hand and his pen behind his ear,
took his seat most pompously, and made ready to take down the landlord’s
deposition ; who promised solemnly on his part not to suppress one tittle of the
real fact. So far, so good! said the worshipful commissioner ; we have only
to proceed in our examination. You will only just answer my questions ; but
- do not interlard your replies with any comments of your own. Do: you often
see Samuel Simon at church? I never thought of looking for him, said the
drawer of corks ; but I do not know that I ever saw him there in my life.
Very good ! cried the inquisitor. Write down that the defendant never goes
to church. I do not say so, your worship, answered the landlord, I only say
that I never happened to see him there. We may have been at church together
and yet not have come across each other. My good friend, replied Lamela,
you forget that you are deposing to facts, and not arguing. Remember what I
told you ; contempt of court is a heinous offence. You are to give a sound and
discreet evidence ; every iota of what makes against him, and not a word in
his favour, if you knew volumes. If that is your practice, O upright and im-
partial judge, resumed our host, my testimony will scarcely be worth the trouble
of taking. I know nothing about the tradesman you are inquiring after ; and
therefore can tell neither good nor harm of him: but if you wish to examine
into the history of his private life, I will run and call Gaspard, his apprentice,
whom you may question as much as you please. ‘The lad comes and takes his
glass here sometimes with his friends. Bless us, what a tongue! He will rip
up all the minutest actions of his master’s life, and find employment for your
secretary till his wrist aches, take my word for it.
I like your open dealing, said Ambrose with a nod of approbation. To point
out a man so capable of speaking to the bad morals of Simon, is an instance of
Christian charity as well as of religious zeal. I shall report you very favourably
to the inquisition, Make haste, therefore ; goand fetch this Gaspard, of whom
you speak ; but do the thing cautiously, so that his master may have no sus-
pagee of what is going forward. The multiplier of scores acquitted himself of
is commission with due diligence and laudable privacy. Our little shopman
came along with him. The youth had a tongue with a tang, and was just the
sort of fellow that we wanted. Welcome, my good young man! said Lamela,
EXAMINATION OF SIMON’S APPRENTICE. 215
You behold in me an inquisitor, appointed by that venerable body to collect
informations against Samuel Simon, on an accusation of still adhering to Juda-
ism in his secret devotions. You are an inmate of his family, consequently you
must be an eye-witness to many of his most private transactions. It probably
may be unnecessary to warn you, that you are obliged in conscience, and by fear
of punishment, to declare all you know about him, notwithstanding any promise
to the contrary, when I order you so to do on the part of the holy inquisition.
May it please your reverence, answered the plodding little rascal, I am quite
ready to satisfy your heart’s desire on that head, without being commanded
thereto in the name of the holy office. If ever my acquittal was to depend on
my master’s character of me, I am persuaded that my chance would be a sorry
one ; and for that reason, I shall serve him as he would serveme. And I may
tell you in the first place, that he is a fly-by-night whose proceedings it is no
easy matter to take measure of ; a man who puts on all the starch formalities
of an inveterate religionist, but at bottom has not a spark of principle in his
composition. He goes every evening dangling after a little girl no better than
she should be. ... Iam vastly glad indeed to find that, interrupted Ambrose,
because I plainly perceive, by all you have been telling me, that he is a man
of corrupt morals and licentious practices. But answer point by point to the
questions I shall put to you. It is above all on the subject of religion that I
am commissioned to inquire into his sentiments and conduct. Pray tell me,
do you eat much pork at your house? I do not think, answered Gaspard, that
we have seen it at table twice in the year that I have lived with him. Better
and better! replied the paragon of inquisitors : write down in legible characters
that they never eat pork in Samuel Simon’s family. But as a set-off against
that, doubtless a joint of lamb is served up every now and then? Yes, every
now and then, rejoined the apprentice ; we killed one for our own consumption
about last Easter. The seasonis pat and tothe purpose, cried the ecclesiastical
commissioner. Come, write down, that Simon keepsthe passover: This goes
on merrily to.a complete conviction ; and it seems, we have got a good service-
able information here.
Tell me again, my friend, pursued Lamela, whether you have not often seen
your master fondle young children. A thousand times, answered Gaspard.
When he sees the little urchins playing about before the shop, if they happen
to be pretty, he calls them in and makes much of them. Write that down, be
sure you write that down ! interrupted the inquisitor. Samuel Simon is very
grievously suspected of lying in wait for Christian children, and enticing them
into his den to circumcise them. Vastly well! vastly well, indeed, Master
Simon ! you will have an account to settle with the society for the suppression
of Judaism, take my word for it. Do not take it into your savage head that
such bloody sacrifices are to be perpetrated with impunity. A pretty use you
make of baptism and shaving! Cheer up, religious Gaspard, thou foremost of
elect apprentices ! Make a full confession of all thy master’s sins ; complete
thine honest testimony by telling us how this simular of a Catholic is more
than ever wedded to his Jewish customs and ceremonies. Is it not a fact, that
one day in the week he sits with his hands before him, and will not even per-
form the most necessary offices for himself? No, answered Gaspard, I have not
exactly observed that. What comes nearest to it is that on some days he shuts
himself up in his closet, and stays there a long time. Ay! now we have it,
exclaimed the commissary. He keeps the sabbath, or I am not an inquisitor.
Note that particularly, officer ; note that he observes the fast of the sabbath
most superstitiously ! Out upon him! What a shocking fellow ! One question
more, and his business is done. Is not he always parleying about Jerusalem ?
Pretty often indeed, replied our informer. He knows the Old Testament by
216 GIL BLAS.
heart, and tells us how the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed. The very thing!
resumed Ambrose. Secretary! be sureyou do not neglect that feature of ‘the
case. Write, in letters of an inch long, that Samuel Simon has contracted
with the devil for the rebuilding of the temple, and that he is plotting day
and night for the re-establishment of his nation. That is all I want to know;
and it is labour in vain to pursue the examination any further. What Gaspard,
in the spirit of truth and charity, has deposed, would be sufficient to makea
bonfire of all Jewry.
When the august mouth-piece of the holy tribunal had sifted the little
scoundrelly apprentice after this manner, he told him he might go about his
business ; at the same time commanding him, under the severest penalties of
the inquisition, not to say a word to his master about what was going forward.
Gaspard promised implicit obedience, and marched off. We were not long in
coming after him: our procession from the inn was as grave and solemn as our
pilgrimage thereunto, till we knocked at Samuel Simon’s door. He opened it
in person. Three figures such as ours might have dumbfounded a better man ;
but his face was as long as a lawsuit, when Lamela, our spokesman, said to him
in a tone of authority: Master Samuel, I command you in the name of the
holy inquisition, whose delegate I have the honour to be, to give me the key
of your closet without murmur or delay. I want to see if I cannot find where-
withal to corroborate certain hints which have been communicated to ,us re-
specting you.
The son of commerce, aghast at these sounds of melancholy import, reeled
two steps backward, just as if some one had given him a blow in the bread-
basket. Far from smelling a rat*in this pleasant trick of ours, he fancied in
good earnest that some secret enemy had made him an object of suspicion to
the holy hue-and-cry; and it might ars have happened that, from being
rather clumsy at his new duties as a Christian, he might be conscious of having
laid himself open to serious animadversion. However that might be, I never
saw a man look more foolish. He did as he was ordered without saying nay ;
and opened all his lock-up places with the sheepish acquiescence of a man, who
stood in awe of an ecclesiastical rap on the knuckles. At least, said Ambrose
as he went in, at least you are not a contumacious oppugner of our resistless
mandates. But withdraw into another room, and leave me to fulfil the duties
of my station without profane observers. Samuel did not set his face against
this command any more than against the first: but kept himself quiet in his
shop, while we went all three of us into his closet, where, without loss of time,
we laid an embargo on his cash. It was no difficult matter to find it; for it
lay in an open coffer, and in much larger quantity than we could carry away.
There were a great many bags heaped up; but all in silver. Gold would have
been more to our mind; but, as robbers must not be choosers any more than
beggars, we were obliged to yield to the necessity of the case. Not only did
we line our pockets with ducats; but the most unsearchable parts of our dress
were made the receptacles of our filchings. Yet was there no outward shew of
the heavy burden under which we tottered; thanks to the cunning contrivance
of Ambrose and Don Raphael, who proved that there is nothing like being
master of one’s trade.
We marched out of the closet, after having feathered our nests pretty warmly ;
and then, for a reason which the reader will have no great difficulty in guessing,
the worshipful inquisitor produced his padlock, and fixed it on the door with
his own hands: he affixed moreover his own seal, and then said to Simon:
Master Samuel, I forbid you, in the name of the holy inquisition, to touch
either this padlock or this seal, which it is your bounden duty to hold sacred,
since it is the authentic seal of our holy office. I shall return hither this time
'-° WHAT THEY DID AFTER THE ROBBERY OF SIMON. 217
to-morrow, then and here to open my commission, and provisionally to take
off the interdict. With this injunction, he ordered the street door to be opened,
and we made our escape after the processional manner, out of our wits with
joy. As soon as we had marched about fifty yards, we began to mend our
pace into such a quick step, aggravated by degrees into a leap and a bound,
that we were almost like vaulters and tumblers, in spite of the weight we car-
ried. We were soon out of town; and mounting our horses once more, pushed
forward towards Segorba, with many a pious ejaculation to the God Mercury,
on the happy issue of so bold an attempt.
Cu. IL. —TZhe determination of Don Alphonso and Gil Blas after this adventure.
WE travelled all night, according to our modest and unobtrusive custom ; so
that we found ourselves at sunrise near a little village two leagues from
Segorba. As we were all tired to death, it was agreed unanimously to strike
out of the highway, and rest under the shade of some willows, which we saw at
the foot of a little hill, about ten or twelve hundred yards from the village,
where it did not seem expedient for us to halt. These willows furnished us
with an agreeable retreat, by the side of a little brook which bubbled as it
washed their roots. The place struck our fancy, and we resolved to pass the
day there. We unbridled our horses, and turned them out to grass, stretching
our own gentle limbs on the soft sod. There we courted the drowsy god of
innocent repose for a while, and then rummaged to the bottom of our wallet
and our wine-skin. After an ecclesiastical breakfast, we counted up our ten
tithes of Samuel Simon’s money ; and it mounted to a round three thousand
ducats. So that with such a sum and what we had before, it might be said,
without boasting, that we knew how to make both ends meet.
As it was necessary to go to market, Ambrose and Don Raphael, throwing
off their dresses now the play was over, said that they would take that office
conjointly on themselves: the adventure at Xelva had only sharpened their
wit, and they had a mind to look about Segorba, just to make the experiment
whether any opportunity might offer of striking another stroke. You have no-
thing to do, added the heir of Lucinda’s wit and wisdom, but to wait for us
under these willows: we shall not be long before we are with you again.
Signor Don Raphael, exclaimed I with a horse-laugh, tell us rather to wait for
you under a more substantial tree; the gallows. If you once leave us, we are
in a month’s mind that we shall not see you again till the day after the fair.
This suspicion of our honour goes against the grain, replied Signor Ambrose ;
but we deserve that our characters should suffer in your ésteem. It is but rea-
son that you should distrust our purity, after the affair at Valladolid, and
should fancy that we shall make it no more a matter of conscience to play at the
devil take the hindmost with you, than with the party that we left in the lurch
in that town. Yet you deceive yourselves egregiously. The gang upon whom
we turned the tables were people of very bad character, and their company be-
gan to be disreputable to us. Thus far justice must be done to the members of
our profession, that there is no bond in all civilized life less liable to be broken
by personal and private interest; but when there are no feelings in common,
our good understanding will be the worse for wear, as it happens among other
descriptions of men. Wherefore, Signor Gil Blas, I entreat you, and Signor
Don Alphonso as well as you, to be somewhat more liberal in your construc-
tion of us, and to set your hearts at respecting Don Raphael’s and my whim
about going to Segorba.
It is the easiest thing in the world, observed Lucinda’s hopeful brat, to quash
all subject of uneasiness on that score: they have only to remain treasurers of
218 A) GIL BLAS.
the exchequer, and they will have a sufficient pledge in their hands for our re-
turn. You see, Signor Gil Blas, that we are all fair and above-board. You
shall both hold security for our re-appearance, and you may rest assured that
for Ambrose and myself, we shall set off without the slightest misgiving of your
taking to your heels with so valuable a deposit. After so substantial a proof
of our good faith, will you not place implicit confidence in us? Yes, gentle-
men, said I, and you may do at once whatever seems good in your own eyes.
They took their departure immediately, carrying the bottle and the wallet along
with them, and left me under the willows with Don Alphonso, who said to me
after they were out of sight: Now is the time, Signor Gil Blas, now is the time
to open my heart to you. I am angry with myself for having been so easily
prevailed on to herd thus far with these two knaves. You have no idea how
many times I have quarrelled with myself on that score. Yesterday evening,
while I was watching the horses, a thousand mortifying reflections rushed upon
my mind. I thought it did not become a young man of honourable principles
to live among such scurvy fellows as Don Raphael and Lamela ; that if by ill-
luck some day or other, and many a more unlikely thing has happened, the
success of our swindling tricks should throw us into the hands of justice, I
might sustain the shame of being tried with them asa reputed thief, and under-
going the disgraceful sentence of the law. These frightful thoughts present
themselves incessantly to my imagination, and I will own to you that I have
determined, as the only means of escape from the contamination of their bad
actions, to part from them for ever. I can scarcely suppose that you will dis-
approve of my design. No, I promise you, answered I: though you have
seen me perform the part of the alguazil in Samuel Simon’s comedy, do not
fancy that such pieces as those are got up to my taste. I take heaven to wit-
ness that while acting in so witty a scene, I said to myself: Faith and troth,
master Gil Blas, if justice should come and lay hold of you by the wesand at
this moment, you would well deserve the penitential wages of your iniquity.
I feel therefore no more disposed than yourself, Don Alphonso, to tarry longer
in such bad company; and if you think well of it, I will bear you company,
When these gentlemen come back, we will demand a balancing of the accounts,
and to-morrow morning, or even to-night before to-morrow, we will make our
bow to them.
The lovely Seraphina’s lover approved my proposal. Let us get to Valencia,
said he, and we will embark for Italy, where we shall be able to enter into the
service of the Venetian republic. Will it not be far better to take up the pro-
fession of arms, than to lead such a dastardly and disreputable life as we are
now engaged in? We shall even be in a condition to make a very handsome
figure with the money that will be coming to us. Not that I appropriate to
myself without remorse a fund so unfairly established ; but besides that neces-
sity obliges me to it, if ever I acquire any property in my campaigns, I make a
vow to indemnify Samuel Simon. I gave Don Alphonso to understand that
my sentiments coincided with his own, and we resolved at once to separate
ourselves from our companions on the following morning before daybreak. We
were above the temptation of profiting by their absence, that is, of marching off
in a hurry with the sum total of the finances: the confidence they had reposed
in leaving us masters of the whole revenue, did not permit such a thought so
much as to pass through our minds.
Ambrose and Don Raphael returned from Segorba just at the close of day.
The first thing they told us was, that their journey had been propitious; for
they had laid the corner-stone of a rascality which, to all appearance, would
turn out still better than that of the evening before. And thereupon the son ot
Lucinda was going to put us in possession of the details; but Don Alphanso cut
DON ALPHONSO ACKNOWLEDGED BY HIS FATHER. 219
him short in his explanation, and declared at once his intention of parting com-
any. I announced my own wish to do the same. To no purpose did they
employ all their rhetoric, to prove to us the propriety of our accompanying
them in their professional travels: we took leave of them the next morning,
after having made an equal division of our cash, and pushed on towards Va-
lencia.
Cu. Ill.—Ax unfortunate occurrence, which terminated to the high delight of
Don Alphonso. Gil Blas meets with an adventure which places him all at
once in a very superior situation.
WE galloped on gaily as far as Bunol, where, as ill-luck would have it, we were
obliged to stop. Don Alphonso was taken ill. His disorder was a high fever,
with such an access of alarming symptoms, as put me in fear for his life. By the
greatest mercy in the world, the place was not beset by a single physician, and
I got clear off without any harm but my fright. He was quite out of danger at
the end of three days, and with my nursing, his recovery was rapid and without
relapse. He seemed to be very grateful for my attentions; and as we really
and truly felt a liking for each other, we swore an eternal friendship.
At length we got on our journey again, in the constant determination, when
we arrived at Valencia, of profiting by the first opportunity which might offer
to go over into Italy. But heaven disposed of us differently. We saw at the gate
of a fine castle some country people of both sexes making merry and dancing
inaring. We went near to be spectators of their revels; and Don Alphonso
was never less prepared than for the surprise which all at once came over his
senses. He found it was Baron Steinbach, who was as little backward in re-
cognizing him, but ran up to him with open arms, and exclaimed, in accents of
unbridled joy—Ah, Don Alphonso! is it you? What a delightful meeting!
While search was making for you in every direction, chance presents you to my
view.
My fellow-traveller dismounted immediately, and ran to embrace the baron,
whose joy seemed to me of an extravagant nature. Come, my long-lost son,
said the good old man, you shall now be informed of your own birth, and know
the happy destiny that awaits you. As he uttered these words, he conducted
him into the castle. I went in along with them; for while they were exchang-
ing salutations, I had alighted and tied our horses toa tree. The lord of the
castle was the first person whom we met. He was about the age of fifty, and
a very well-looking man. Sir, said Baron Steinbach as he introduced Don
Alphonso, behold your son. At these words, Don Cesar de Leyva, for by that
title the lord of the castle was called, threw his arms round Don Alphonso’s
neck, and weeping with joy, muttered indistinctly, My dear son, know in me
the author of your being. If I have for so long left you in ignorance of your
birth and family, rest assured that the self-denial was mine in the most painful
degree. I have a thousand times been ready to burst with anxiety, but it was
impossible to act otherwise. I had married your mother from sheer attach-
ment, for her origin was very inferior to mine. I lived under the control of an
austere father, whose severity rendered it necessary to keep secret a marriage
contracted without his sanction. Baron Steinbach, and he alone, was in my
confidence: he brought you up at my request, and under my directions. At
length my father is laid with his ancestors, and I can own you for my son and
heir. This is not all; I can give you for a bride a young lady whose rank is on
a level with my own. Sir, interrupted Don Alphonso, make me not pay too
dear for the happiness you have just been throwing in my lap. May I not be
told that I have the honour of being your son without being informed at the
220 GIL BLAS.
same time that you are determined to make me miserable? Ah, sir! be not
more cruel than your own father. If'he did not consent to the indulgence of
your passion, at least he never compelled you to take another wife. Myson, re-
plied Don Ceesar, I have no wish to exercise a tyranny over your inclinations,
which I spurned at in my own case. But have the good manners just to see
the lady I design for you, that is all I require from your filial duty. Though a
lovely creature and a very advantageous match, I promise never to force you
into marriage. She is now in this castle. Follow me; you will be obliged to
acknowledge that you have rarely seen a more attractive object. So saying,
he led Don Alphonso into a room where I made myself one of the party with
Baron Steinbach.
There was the Count de Polan with his two daughters, Seraphina and Julia,
and Don Ferdinand de Leyva, his son-in-law, who was Don Cosar’s nephew.
Don Ferdinand, as was mentioned before, had eloped with Julia, and it was on
the occasion of the marriage between these two lovers that the peasantry of the
neighbourhood were collected on this day to congratulate the bride and bride-
groom. As soon as Don Alphonso made his appearance, and his father had
introduced him to the company, the Count de Polan rose from his chair and
ran to embrace him, saying—Welcome, my deliverer! Don Alphonso, added
he, addressing his discourse to him, observe the power of virtue over generous
minds. Though you have killed my son, you have saved my life. I lay aside
my resentment for ever, and give you that very Seraphina whose honour you
protected from invasion. In so doing, my debt to you is paid. Don Czsar’s
son was not wanting in acknowledgments to the Count de Polan, nor could he be
otherwise than deeply affected by his goodness ; and it may be doubted whether
the discovery of his birth and parentage touched his felicity more nearly than
the intelligence that he was the destined husband of Seraphina. This marriage
was actually solemnized some days afterwards, to the entire satisfaction of all
parties concerned.
As I was one of the Count de Polan’s deliverers, this nobieman, who knew
me again immediately, said that he would take upon himself the care of making
my fortune. I thanked him for his liberality, but would not leave Don Al-
honso, who made me steward of his household, and honoured me with his con-
Sah A few days after his marriage, still harping upon the trick which had
been played to Samuel Simon, he sent me to return to that cozened shopkeeper
all the money which had been filched from him. I went therefore to make
restitution. This was setting up the trade of a steward, but beginning at the
wrong end: they ought all of them to end with restitution ; but nine hundred
and ninety-nine outofathousand think it double trouble, and excuse themselves.
BOOK THE SEVENTH.
Cu. 1.—The tender attachment between Gil Blas and Dame Lorenza Sephora.
Away went I to Xelva with three thousand ducats under my charge, as an
equivalent to Samuel Simon for the amount of his loss. I will have the honesty
to own, that my fingers itched as I jogged along, to transfer these funds to my
own account, and begin my stewardship in character, since everything in this life
depends upon setting out well. There was no risk in preferring instinct to
principle : because it was only to ride about the country for five or six days,
GIL BLAS STEWARD TO DON ALPHONSO. —228
and come home upon a brisk trot as if I had done my business and made the best
of my way. Don Alphonso and his father would never have believed me capa-
ble of a breach of trust. Yet, strange to tell, I was proof against so tempting a
suggestion : it would scarcely be too much to say, that honour, not the fear of
being found out, was the spring of so praiseworthy a decision; and as times go,
that is saying a great deal for a lad, whose conscience had been pretty well
seasoned by keeping company with a succession of scoundrels. Many people who
have not that excuse, but frequent worshipful society, will wonder how such
squeamishness should have prevailed over my good sense : treasurers of charities
in particular ; persons who have the wills of relations in their custody, and do
not exactly like the contents ; in short, all those whose characters stand. higher
Saat their principles, will find food for reflection in my overstrained scrupu-
losity.
After having made restitution to the merchant, who little thought ever to
have seen one farthing of his property again, I returned to the castle of Leyva.
The Count de Polan had taken his departure, and was far on his journey
to Toledo with Julia and Don Ferdinand. I found my new master more
wrapped up than ever in Seraphina; his Seraphina equally wrapped up in my
master, and Don Czesar just as much wrapped up as either in the contempla-
tion of the happy couple. My object was to gain the goodwill of this affec-
tionate father, and I succeeded to my wish. The whole house was placed
implicitly under my superintendence — nothing was done without my special
direction; the tenants paid their rents into my hands; the disbursements of
the family were all under my revision; and the subordinate situations in the
household were at my disposal without appeal ; and yet the power of tyranniz-
ing did not give me the inclination, as it has always hitherto done to my equals
and superiors. I neither turned away the male servants, because I did not
like the cut of their beards, nor the female ones because they happened not to
like the cut of mine. If they made up to Don Cesar or his son at once, with-
out currying my favour as the channel of all good graces, far from taking
umbrage at them on that account, I spoke out officiously in their behalf. In
other respects, too, the marks of confidence my two masters were incessantly
lavishing on me inspired me with a substantial zeal for their service. Their
interest was my real object: there was no slight of hand in my ministry ; I was
such a caterer for the general good, as you rarely meet with in private families
or in political societies.
While I was hugging myself on the well-earned prosperity of my condition,
love, jealous of my dealings with fortune, was bent on sharing my gratitude by
the addition of a higher zest. He planted, watered, and ripened in the heart of
Dame Lorenza Sephora, Seraphina’s confidential woman, an abundant crop
of liking for the happy steward. My Helen, not to sink the fidelity of the his-
torian in the vanity of the man, could not be many months short of her fiftieth
year. But for all that, a look of wholesomeness, a face none of the ugliest,
and two good-looking eyes of which she knew the efficient use, might make
her still pass for a decent bit of amusement in a summer evening. I could only
just have been thankful for a little more relief to her complexion, since it was
precisely the colour of chalk; but that I attributed to maiden concealments,
which had eat away all the damask of her cheek.
The lady ogled me for a long time, with ogles that savoured more of passion
than of chastity ; but instead of communing in the language of the eyes, I made
pretence at first not to be sensible of my own happiness, Thus did my gal-
lantry appear as if arrayed in its first blushes; a circumstance which was rather
tempting than repulsive to her feelings. Taking it into her head, therefore, that
there was no standing upon dumb eloquence with a young man who looked more
222 : GIL BLAS.
like a novice than he was, at our very first interview she declared her sentiments
in broad, unequivocal terms, that I might have no plea for misinterpretation,
She played her part like an old stager: affected to be overwhelmed with con-
fusion while she was speaking to me; and after having said all she wanted to
say in a good audible voice, put her hand before her face, to hide the shame
which was not there, and make me believe that she was incommoded by the
delicacy of her own feelings. There was no standing such an attack; and
though vanity had a larger share in my surrender than the tender passion, I
did not receive her overtures ungraciously. Nay, more, I presumed to overlook
decorum in my vivacity, and acted the impatient lover so naturally as to call
down a modest rebuke upon my freedoms, Lorenza chid my fondness, but
with so much fondness in her chidings, that while she prescribed to me the
coldness of an anchorite, it was very evident she would have been miserably
disappointed if I had taken her slayer yo I should have pressed the affair
at once to the natural termination of all such affairs, if the lovely object of my
ardent wishes had not been afraid of giving me a left-handed opinion of her
virtue, by abandoning the works before the siege was regularly formed. This
being so, we parted, but with a promise to meet again: Sephora in the full
persuasion that her reluctant resistance would stamp her for a vestal in my
esteem, and myself full of the sweet hope that the torments of Tantalus would
soon be succeeded by an elysium of enjoyment.
My affairs were in this happy train, when one of Don Czesar’s under servants
brought me such a piece of news, as gave an ague to my raptures. This lad
was one of those inquisitive inmates who apply either an ear or an eye to every
keyhole in a house. As he paid his court constantly to me, and served up
some fresh piece of scandal every day, he came to tell me one morning that
he had made a pleasant discovery; and that he had no objection to letting me
into the fun, on condition that I would not blab: because Dame Lorenza
Sephora was the theme of the joke, and he was afraid of becoming obnoxious
to her resentment and revenge. I was too much interested in coming at the
story he had to tell, not to swear myself into discretion through thick and thin ;
but it was necessary that my motive should seem curiosity and not personal
concern, so that I asked him, with an air of as much indifference as I could
put on, what was this mighty discovery about which he made such a piece of
work. Lorenza, whispered he, smuggles the surgeon of the village every even-
ing into her apartment: he is a tight vessel, well armed and manned ; and the
pirate generally stays pretty long upon his cruise. I do not mean to say,
added he, with supercilious candour, but that all this may be perfectly innocent
on both sides, but you cannot help admitting, that where a young man does
insinuate himself slily into a girl’s bedchamber, he takes better care of his own
pleasure than of her reputation.
Though this tale gave me as much uneasiness as if I had been verily and ro-
mantically in love, I had too much sense to let him know it ; but so far stifled
my feelings as to laugh heartily at a story which struck at the very life of all
my hopes. But when no witnesses were by, I made myself full amends for
having gulped down my rising indignation. I blustered and stormed ; mutter-
ed blessings on them the wrong way, and swore outright: but all this without
coming nearer to a decision on my own conduct. At one time, holding Lorenza
in utter contempt, it was my good pleasure to give her up altogether, without
condescending so far as to come to any explanation with the coquette. At an-
other time, laying it down as a principle, that my honour was concerned in making
the surgeon an example to all intriguers, I spirited up my courage to call him out.
Thus dangerous valour prevailed over safe indifference. At the approach of
evening I placed myself in ambuscade ; and sure enough the gentleman did
GIL BLAS ADVENTURE WITH THE SURGEON. 223
slink into the temple of my Vesta, with a fear of being found out that spoke
rather unfavourably for the purity of his designs. Nothing short of this could
have kept my rage alive against the chilliness of the night air. I immediately
uitted the precincts of the castle, and posted myself on the high road, where
the gay deceiver was sure to be intercepted on his return, I waited for him
with my fighting spirits on the full boil : my impatience increased with the lapse
of time, till Mars and Bellona seemed to inhabit my frame, and enlarge it be-
yond human dimensions. At length my antagonist came in sight. I took a
few strides, such as bully Mars or Bellona might have taken ; but I do not
know how the devil it came to pass, my courage went further off as my body
came nearer ; my frame was contracted within somewhat less than its human
dimensions, and my heart felt exactly like the heart of a coward. The hearts
of Homer’s heroes felt exactly the same, when the dastardly dogs were not
backed by a supernatural drawcansir! In short, I was just as much out of my
element as ever Paris was, when he pitted himself against Menelaus in single
combat. I began taking measure of this operator in love, war, and anatomy.
He appeared to be large limbed and well knit, with a sword by his side of a
most abominable length. All this made me consider, that the better part of
valour is discretion : nevertheless, whether from the superiority of mind over
the nervous system in a case of honour, or from whatever other cause, though
the danger grew bigger as the distance diminished, and in spite of nature, which
pleaded obstinately that honour is a mere scutcheon, and can neither set a leg
nor take away the grief of a wound, I mustered up boldness enough to march
forward towards the surgeon sword in hand,
My proceeding seemed to him to be of the drollest. What is the matter,
Signor Gil Blas? exclaimed he. Why all this fire and fury? Youare ina
bantering mood, to all appearance. No, good master shaver, answered I, no
such thing ; there never was anything more serious since Cain killed Abel. I
am determined to try the experiment, whether as little preparation serves your
turn in the field of battle as ina lady’s chamber. Hope not that you will be
suffered to possess without a rival that heaven of bliss in which you have been
indulging but this moment at the castle. By all the martyrdoms we phleboto-
mizers have ever suffered or inflicted! replied the surgeon, setting up a shout
of laughter, this is a most whimsical adventure. As heaven is my judge! ap-
pearances are very little to be trusted. At this put off, fancying that he had
no keener stomach for cold iron than myself, I got to be ten times more over-
bearing. Teach your parrot to speak better Spanish, my friend, interrupted I ;
do you think we do not know a hawk from a hernshaw? Imagine not that the
simple denial of the fact will settle the business. I see plainly, replied he, that
I shall be obliged to speak out, or some mischief must happen either to you or
me. I shall therefore disclose a secret to you ; though men in our profession
cannot be too much on the reserve. If Dame Lorenza sends for me into her
apartment under suspicious circumstances, it is only to conceal from the servants
the knowledge of her malady. She has an incurable ulcer in her back, which
I come every evening to dress. This is the real occasion of those visits which
disturb your peace. Henceforward, rest assured that you have her all to your-
self. But if you are not satisfied with this expectation, and are absolutely bent
on a fencing match, you have only to say so ; I am not a man to turn my back
upon a game at sword play. With these words in his mouth he drew his long
rapier, which made my heart jump into my throat, and stood upon his guard,
It is enough, said I, putting my sword up again in its scabbard, Iam not a
wild beast, to turn a deaf ear to reason : after what you have told me, there is
no cause of enmity between us. Let us shake hands, At this proposal, by
which he found out that I was not such a devil of a fellow as he had taken me
224 GIL BLAS.
for, he returned his weapon with a laugh, met my advances to be reconciled,
and we parted the best friends in the world.
From that time forward Sephora never came into my thoughts but with the
most disgusting associations. I shunned all the opportunities she gave me of
entertaining her in private, and this with so obvious a study, almost bordering
on rudeness, that she could not but notice it. Astonished at so sudden a reverse,
she was dying to know the cause, and at length, finding the means of pinning
me down to a téte-4-téte, Good Mr Steward, said she, tell me, if so please
you, why you avoid the very sight of me? It is true that I made the first
advances ; but then Px fed the consuming fire. Recall to memory, if it is not
too great a favour, the private interview we had together. Then you were a
magazine of combustibles, now you are as frozen as the northsea. What isthe
meaning of all this? The Sar was not a little difficult of solution, for a
man unaccustomed to the violence of amorous interrogatories, The consequence
was, that it puzzled me most confoundedly. I donot precisely recollect the
identical lie I told the lady, but I recollect perfectly that nothing but the truth
could have affronted her more highly. Sephora, though by her mincing air
and modest outside one might have taken her fora lamb, was a tigress when
the savage was roused in her nature. I did think, said she, darting a glance at
me full of malice and hideousness, I did think to have conferred such honour as
was never conferred before, on a little scoundrel like you, by betraying senti-
ments which the first nobility in the country would make it their boast to excite.
Fitly indeed am I punished for having preposterously lowered myself to the
level of a dirty, snivelling adventurer.
That was pretty well ; but she did not stop there : I should have come off too
cheaply on such terms, Her fury taking a long lease of her tongue, that brawl-
ing instrument of discord rung a bob-major of invective, each strain more clam-
orous and confounding than the former. It certainly was my duty to have
received it all with cool indifference, and to have considered candidly that in tri-
umphing over female reserve, and then not taking possession of the conquest, I
had committed that sin against the sex, which would have transformed the most
feminine of them into a Sephora. But I was too irritable to bear abuse, at
which a man of sense in my place would only have laughed ; and my patience
was at length exhausted, Madam, said I, let us not rake into each other’s per-
sonal misfortunes. If the first nobility in the country had only looked at your
back, they would have forgotten all your other charms, and have boasted but
little of the sentiments they had excited you to betray. I had no sooner laid in
this home stroke, then the enraged duenna visited me with the hardest box on
the ear that ever yet proceeded from the delicate fingers of a woman scorned,
Such favours might pall on repetition ; so I did not wait for a second, but took
shelter in the nimbleness of my legs from the clatter of castigation she was going
to shower down on me.
I returned thanks to the protecting powers for having brought me clear off
from this unequal encounter, and fancied that I had nothing further to appre-
hend, since the lady had taken corporal vengeance. It was likely, too, that
she would be wise and hold her tongue, for the honour of her own back : and,
in point of fact, a full fortnight had elapsed without my hearing a word upon
the subject. The very tingling in my own cheek began to abate, when I was
told that Sephora was taken ill. With that forgiveness of injuries so natural to
me, I was sincerely afflicted at the news. I really felt for the poor lady. Icon-
cluded that, unable to contend with a passion so ill repaid, that hapless victim of
her own tenderness was giving up the ghost. It was with exquisite pain that I
turned this subject in my thoughts. I was the cruel cause that her heart was
breaking ; and my pity at least was the duenna’s, though love is too wayward
SEPHORA’S HATRED TOWARDS GIL BLAS. 225
to be controlled by advice. But I was miserably mistaken in her nature. Her
tenderness had all curdled into acrimonious hatred ; and at that very moment
was she plotting to be my bane.
One morning while I was with Don Alphonso, that amiable young master of
mine was absent, moody, and out of spirits. I inquired respectfully what was
the matter. I am vexed to the soul, said he, to find Seraphina weak, unjust,
ungrateful. “You are not a little surprised at this, added he, remarking the
expression of astonishment with which I heard him ; yet nothing is more strictly
and lamentably true. I know not what reason you have given Dame Lorenza
to be at variance with you; but true it is, you are become so unbearably hate-
ful to her, that if you do not get out of this castle as soon as possible, her
death, she says, must be the sure consequence. You cannot but suppose that
Seraphina, who knows your value, used all her influence at first against a pre-
judice to which she could not administer without injustice and ingratitude. But
though the best of women, she is still a woman, Sephora brought her up, and
she loves her like a mother. Should her old nurse die shortly, she would fancy
she had her death to answer for, had she refused herself to any of her whims.
For my own part, with all my affection towards Seraphina, and it is none of
the weakest, I will never be guilty of so mean a compliance as to side with her
on this question. Perish our duennas, perish the whole system of our Spanish
Merete but never let me consent to the banishment of a young man whom
I look upon rather as a brother than a servant !
When Don Alphonso had thus expressed his sentiments, I said to him: My
good sir, Iam born to be the mere whipping-top of fortune. It had been my
hope that she would leave off persecuting me when under your roof, where
everything held out to me happy days and an unruffled life. Now, the part for
honour to take is to tear myself away, whatever hankering I may feel after my
continuance. No, no, exclaimed the generous son of Don Cesar, Leave me
to bring Seraphina to a proper view of things, It shall never be said that you
are sacrificed to the caprices of a duenna, who, on every occasion, has but too
much influence over the family. All you will get by it, sir, replied I, will
only be to put Seraphina in an ill humour by opposing her wishes. I had much
rather withdraw than run the risk, by a longer abode here, of sowing division
between a married pair, who are a model of conjugal felicity. Such a conse-
pir of my unhappy quarrel would make me miserable for the remainder of
my days.
Don Alphonso absolutely forbade me to take any hasty step; and I found
him so determined in the intention of standing by me, that Lorenza must infal-
libly have been thrown into the background, if I had chosen to have stood an
election against her. There were moments when, exasperated against the
duenna, I was tempted to keep no measures with her; but when I came to
consider that to unravel this surgical mystery would be to plunge a dagger into
the heart of a poor creature, whose curse had been my fastidious prejudice
against an ulcerated back, and whom a physical and mental misfortune were
conjointly handing down to the grave ; I lost all feeling but that of compassion
towards her. It was evident, since I was so portentous a phenomenon, that it
Was my imperious duty to re-establish the tranquillity of the castle by my
absence; and that duty I performed the next morning before daybreak, without
taking any leave of my two masters, for fear they should oppose my departure
from a misplaced partiality towards me. My only notice was to leave behind
in my chamber a memorial, containing an exact account of my receipts and
disbursements during the time of my stewardship.
226 GIL BLAS.
Cu. IL.—What happened to Gil Blas after his retreat from the castle of Leyva ;
shewing that those who are crossed in love are not always the most miserable
of mankind.
I was mounted on a good horse, my own property, and was the bearer of two
hundred pistoles, the greater oo of which arose from the plunder of the van-
quished banditti, and the forfeiture of Samuel Simon by the Inquisition; for
Don Alphonso, without requiring me to account for any part of the said forfeit-
ure, had made restitution of the entize sum out of his own funds. Thus, con-
sidering my effects, however obtained, as converted into lawful property by a
sort of vicarious sponsorship, I took them into my good graces without any
remorse of conscience. An estate like this rendered it absurd to throw awa
any thought about the future; and a certain likelihood of doing well, whic
always hangs about a young man at my age, held out an additional security
against the caprices of fortune. Besides, Toledo offered me a retreat exactly to
my mind. There could not be a doubt but the Count de Polan would take a
leasure in giving a kind reception to one of his deliverers, and would insist on
his accepting an apartment in his own house. But I only looked upon this
nobleman as a very distant resource; and determined, before laying any tax on
his grateful recollection, to spend part of my ready cash in travelling over the
provinces of Murcia and Grenada, which I had a very particular inclination to
see. With this intention I took the Almanza road, and afterwards, following
the route chalked out, travelled from town to town as far as the city of Grenada,
without stumbling on any sinister occurrence. It should seem as if fortune,
wearied out with the school-girl’s tricks she had been playing me, was con-
tented at last to leave me as she found me. But she still had her skittish
igns upon me, as will be seen in the sequel.
One of the first persons I met in the streets of Grenada was Signor Don
Ferdinand de Leyva, son-in-law, as well as Don Alphonso, of the Count de
Polan. We were both of us equally surprised at meeting so far from home.
How is this, Gil Blas? exclaimed he; to find you in this city! What the devil
brings you hither? Sir, said I, if youare astonished at seeing me in this country,
you will be ten times more so when you shall know why I have quitted the
service of Signor Don Cesar and his son. . Then I recounted to him all that
had passed between Sephora and myself, without garbling the facts in any
particular. He laughed heartily at the recital; then, recovering his gravity,
My friend, said he, my mediation is at your service in this affair. I will write
to my sister-in-law...... No, no, sir, interrupted I, do not write upon the
subject, I beseech you. I did not quit the castle of Leyva to go back again.
You may, if you please, make another use of the kindness you have expressed
for me, \If any of your friends should be looking out for a secretary or a stew-
ard, I should be much obliged to you to speak a good word in my favour, I will
tak€ upon me to assure you that you will never be reproached with recom-
mending an improper object. You have only to command me, answered he:
I will do whatever you desire. My business at Grenada is to visit an old aunt
in an ill state of health. I shall be here three weeks longer, after which I shall
set out on my return to my castle of Lorqui, where I have left Julia. That is
my lodging, added he, shewing mea house about a hundred yards from us.
Call upon me in a few days; probably I may by that time have hit upon some
eligible appointment.
And, in fact, so it was; for the very first time that we came together again,
he said to me: My Lord Archbishop of Grenada, my relation and friend, is in
want of a young man with some little tinge of literature, who can write a good
hand and make fair copies of his manuscripts; for he is a great author, He
GIL BLAS ENTERS THE SERVICE OF AN ARCHBISHOP. 227
has composed I know not how many homilies, and still goes on composing
more every day, which he delivers to the high edification of his audience. As
you seem to be just the thing for him, I have mentioned your name, and he has
promised to'take you. Go, and make your bow to him as from me; you will
judge, by his reception of you, whether my recommendation has been couched.
in handsome terms.
The situation was, to all appearance, exactly what I should have picked out
for myself. That being the case, with such an arrangement of my air and per-
son as seemed most likely to square with the ideas of a reverend prelate, I pre-
sented myself one morning before the archbishop. If this were a gorgeous
romance, and not a grave history, here might we introduce a pompous de-
scription of the episcopal palace, with architectural digressions on the structure
of the building: here would be the place to expatiate on the costliness of the
furniture like an upholsterer, to criticise the statues and pictures like a connois-
seur; and the pictures themselves would be nothing to the uninformed reader,
without the stories they represent, till universal history, fabulous and authentic,
sacred and profane, should be pressed into the service. But I shall content
myself with modestly stating, that the royal palace itself is scarcely superior in
magnificence,
Throughout the suite of apartments, there was a complete mob of ecclesiastics
and other officers, consisting of chaplains, ushers, upper and menial servants,
Those of them who were laymen were most superbly attired; one would sooner
have taken them for temporal nobility than for spiritual understrappers. ‘They
were as proud as the devil; and gave themselves intolerably consequential airs.
I could not help laughing in my sleeve, when I considered who and what they
were, and how they behaved. Set a beggar on horseback! said I. These
gentry are in luck to carry a pack without feeling the drag of it; for surely if
they knew they were beasts of burden, they would not jingle their bells with so
high a toss of the head. I ventured just to speak to a grave and portly per-
sonage who stood sentinel at the door of the archbishop’s closet, to turn it upon
its hinges as occasion might require. I asked him civilly if there was no pos-
sibility of speaking with my lord archbishop. Stop a little, said he, with a
supercilious demeanour and repulsive tone: his grace will shortly come forth,
to go and hear mass: you may snatch an audience for a moment as he passes
on. I answered not a single syllable. Patience was all I had for it; and it
even seemed advisable to try and enter into conversation with some of the jacks
in office: but they began conning me over from the sole of my foot to the
crown of my head, without condescending to favour me with a single inter-
jection ; after which they winked at one another, whispered, and looked out at
the corners of their eyes, in derision of the liberty I had assumed, by intruding
upon their select society.
I felt more fool that I did so, quite out of countenance at such cavalier treat-
ment from a knot of state footmen. My confusion was but beginning to sub-
side, when the closet door opened. The archbishop made his appearance. A
profound silence immediately ensued among his officers, who quitted at once
their insolent behaviour, to adopt a more respectful style before their master.
That prelate was in his sixty-ninth year, formed nearly on the model of my
uncle, Gil Perez the canon, which is as much as to say, as broad as he was
long. But the highest dignitaries should always be the most amply gifted; ac-
cordingly his legs bowed inwards to the very extremity of the graceful curve,
and his bald head retained but a single lock behind: so that he was obliged to
ensconce his pericranium in a fine woollen cap with long ears. In spite of all
this, I espied the man of quality in his deportment, doubtless, because I knew .
that he actually happened to be one. We common fellows, the fungous growth
5 *
228 CIL BLAS.
of the human dunghill, look up to great lords with a facility of being overawed,
which often furnishes them with a Benjamin’s mess of importance, when nature
has denied even the most scanty and trivial gifts.
The archbishop moved towards me in a minuet step, and kindly inquired
what I wanted. I told him I was the young man about whom Signor Don
Ferdinand de Leyva had spoken to him. He did not give me a moment to go
on with my story. Ah! is it you, exclaimed he, is it you of whom so fine a
character has been given me? I take you into my service at once; you area
mine of literary utility to me. You have only to take up your abode here.
Talking thus condescendingly, he supported himself between two ushers, and
moved onwards after having given audience to some of his clergy, who had
ecclesiastical business to communicate. He was scarcely out of the room,
when the same officers who had turned upon their heel, were now cap in hand
to court my conversation, Here the rascals are, pressing round me, currying
favour, and expressing their sincere joy at seeing me become as it were an heir-
loom of the archbishopric. They had heard what their master had said, and
were dying with anxiety to know on what footing I was to be about him; but
I had the ill nature not to satisfy their curiosity, in revenge for their contempt.
My lord archbishop was not long before he returned, He took me with him
into his closet for a little private conference. I could not but oe that he
meant to fathom the depth of my understanding. I was accordingly on my
guard, and prepared to measure out my words most methodically. e ques-
tioned me first in the classics. _My answers were not amiss; he was convinced
that I had more than a schoolboy’s acquaintance with the Greek and Latin
writers. He examined me next in logic; nor could I but suppose that he
would examine me in logic. He found me strong enough there. Your edu-
cation, said he, with some degree of surprise, has not been neglected. Now
let us see your hand-writing. I took a blank piece of paper out of my pocket,
which I had brought for the purpose. My ghostly father was not displeased
with my performance. I am very well satisfied with the mechanical part of
your qualifications, exclaimed he, and still more so with the powers of your
mind. I shall thank my nephew, Don Ferdinand, most heartily, for having
sent me so fine a lad; it is absolutely a gift from above.
We were interrupted by some of the neighbouring gentry, who were come to
dine with the archbishop. I left them together, eat withdrew to the second
table, where the whole bhoeciold with one consent, insisted on giving me the
upper hand, Dinner is a busy time at an episcopal ordinary; and yet we
snatched a moment to make our observations on each other. What a mortified
propriety was painted on the outside of the clergy? They had all the look of
a deputation from a better world: strange to think how place and circumstance
impose on the deluded sense of men! It never once came into my thoughts
that all this sanctity might possibly be a false coin; just as if there could be
nothing but what appertained to the kingdom above, among the successors of
the apostles on earth. ;
I was seated by the side of an old valet-de-chambre, by name Melchoir de la
Ronda. He took care to help me to all the nice bits. His attentions were
not lost upon me, and my good manners quite enraptured him. My worthy
sir, said he, in a low voice after dinner, I should like*to have a little private
talk with you. At the same time he led the way to a part of the palace where we
could not be overheard, and there addressed me as follows: My son, from the
very first instant that I saw you, I felt a certain prepossession in your favour.
Of this I will give you a certain proof, by communicating in confidence what
will be of great service to you. You are here in a family where true believers
and painted hypocrites are playing at cross purposes against each other. It
GIL BLAS A FAVOURITE OF THE ARCHBISHOP. 229
would take an antediluvian age to feel the ground under your feet. I will spare
so long and so disgusting a study, by letting you into the characters on both
sides. After this, if you do not play your cards, it is your own fault.
I shall begin with his grace. He is a very pious prelate, employed without
ceasing in the instruction of the people, whom he brings back to virtue, like
sheep gone astray, by sermons full of excellent morality, and written by himself.
He has retired from court these twenty years, to watch over his flock with the
zeal of an affectionate pastor. He is a very learned person, and a very impress-
ive declaimer: his whole delight is in preaching, and his congregation take
care he should know that their whole delight is in hearing him. There may
possibly be some little leaven of vanity in all this heavenly-mindedness; but,
besides that it is not for human fallibility to search the heart, it would ill be-
come me to rake into the faults of a person whose bread I eat. Were it decent
to lay my finger on anything unbecoming in my master, I should discommend
his starchness. Instead of exercising forbearance towards frail churchmen, he
visits every peccadillo, as if it were a heinous offence. Above all, he prosecutes
those with the utmost rigour of the spiritual court, who, wrapping themselves
up in their innocence, appeal to the canons for their justification, in bar of his
despotic authority. There is besides another awkward trait in his character,
common to him with many other people of high rank. Though he is very fond
of the people about him, he pays not the least attention to their services, but
lets them sink into years without a moment’s thought about securing them any
provision. If at any time he makes them any little presents, they may thank
the goodness of some one who shall have spoken up in their behalf: he would
never have his wits enough about him to do the slightest thing for them as a
volunteer.
This is just what the old valet-de-chambre told me of his master. Next, he
let me into what he thought of the clergymen with whom we had dined. His
portraits might be likenesses ; but they were too hard-featured to be owned by
the originals. It must be admitted, however, that he did not represent them as
honest men, but only as very scandalous priests. Nevertheless, he made some
exceptions, and was as loud in their praises as in his censure of the others. I
was no longer at any loss how to play my part so as to put myself on an equal
footing with these gentry. That very evening, at supper, I took a leaf out of
their book, and arrayed myself in the convenient vesture of a wise and prudent
outside. A clothing of humility and sanctification costs nothing. Indeed it
offers such a premium to the wearer, that we are not to wonder if this world
abounds in a description of people called hypocrites.
Cu. Ill.—Gil Blas becomes the Archbishop's favourite, and the channel of all his
Savours.
I HAD been after dinner to get together my baggage, and take my horse from
the inn where I had put up, and afterwards returned to supper at the archbishop’s
palace, where a neatly furnished room was got ready for me, and such a bed as
was more likely to pamper than to mortify the flesh. The day following, his
grace sent for me quite as soon as I was ready to goto him. It wasto give me
a homily to transcribe. He made a point of having it copied with all possible
accuracy. It was done to please him ; for I omitted neither accent, nor comma,
nor the minutest tittle of all he had marked down. His satisfaction at observ-
ing this was heightened by its being unexpected. Eternal Father! exclaimed he
in a holy rapture, when he had glanced his eye over all the folios of my copy,
was ever anything seen so correct? Youare too good atranscriber not to have
some little smattering of the grammarian. Now tell me with the freedom ofa
230 GIL BLAS.
friend ; in writing it over, have you been struck with nothing that grated upon
your feelings? Some little careless idiom, or some word used in an improper
sense? Oh! may it please your grace, answered I with a modest air, it is not
for me, with my confined education and coarse taste, to aim at making critical
remarks. And though ever so well qualified, I am satisfied that your grace’s
works would come out pure from the essay. The successor of the apostles
smiled at my answer. He made no observation on it ; but it was easy to see,
through all his piety, that he was an arrant author at the bottom: there is some-
thing in that dye, that not heaven itself can wash out.
I seemed to have purchased the fee-simple of his good graces by my flattery.
Day after day did I get a step further in his esteem ; and Don Ferdinand, who
came to see him very often, told me my footing was so firm, that there could
not be a doubt but my fortune was made. Of this my master himself gave me
a proof some little time afterwards : and the occasion was as follows ;—One
evening in his closet he rehearsed before me, with appropriate emphasis and
action, a homily which he was to deliver the next day in the cathed He did
not content himself with asking me what I thought of it in the gross, but in-
sisted on my telling him what passages struck me most. I had the good for-
tune to pick out those which were nearest to his own taste, his favourite com-
mon-places. Thus, as luck would have it, I passed in his estimation for a man
who had a quick and natural relish of the real and less obvious beauties in a
work. This, indeed, exclaimed he, is what you may call having discernment
and feeling in perfection! Well, well, my friend! it cannot be said of you,
Bzeotum in crasso jurares aére natum.
In a word, he was so highly pleased with me, as to add in a tone of extraor-
dinary emotion—Never mind, Gil Blas ! henceforward take no care‘about here-
after ; I shall make it my business to place you among the favoured children of
my bounty. You have my best wishes ; and to prove to you that you have them,
I shall take you into my inmost confidence,
‘These words were no sooner out of his mouth, than I fell at his grace’s feet,
quite overwhelmed with gratitude. I embraced his elliptical legs with almost
pagan idolatry, and considered myself as a man on the high road to a very
handsome fortune. Yes, my child, resumed the archbishop, whose speech had
been cut short by the rapidity of my prostration, I mean to make you the re-
ceiver-general of all my inmost ruminations. Hearken attentively towhat Iam
going to say. I havea great pleasure in preaching. ‘The Lord sheds a bless-
itg on my homilies; they sink deep into the hearts of sinners; set up a
glass in which vice sees its own image, and bring back many from the paths of
error into the high road of repentance. What a heavenly sight, when a miser,
scared at the hideous picture drawn by my eloquence of his avarice, opens his
coffers to the poor and needy, and dispenses the accumulated store with a lib-
eral hand! The voluptuary, too, is snatched from the pleasures of the table ;
ambition flies at my command to the wholesome discipline of the monastic cell ;
while female frailty, tottering on the brink of ruin, with one ear open to the
siren voice of the seducer, and the other to my saintly correctives, is restored to
domestic happiness and the approving smile of heaven, by the timely warnings of
the pulpit. ‘These miraculous conversions, which happen almost every Sunday,
ought of themselves to goad me on in the career of saving souls. Nevertheless,
to conceal no part of my weakness from my monitor, there is another reward
on which my heart is intent, a reward which the seraphic scrupulousness of my
virtue to little purpose condemns as too carnal ; a literary reputation for a sub-
lime and elegant style. The honour of being handed pa to posterity as a
perfect pulpit orator has its irresistible attractions. My compositions are gener-
THE ARCHBISHOP APPOINTS HIM HIS CENSOR. 231
ally thought to be equally powerful and persuasive ; but I could wish of all
things to steer clear of the rock on which good authors split, who are too long
before the public, and to retire from professional life with my reputation in un-
diminished lustre.
To this end, my dear Gil Blas, continued the prelate, there is one thing re-
quisite from your zeal and friendship. Whenever it shall strike you that my
pen begins to contract, as it were, the ossification of old age, whenever you see
my genius in its climacteric, do not fail to give me ahint. There is no trusting
to one’s self in such a case; pride and conceit were the original sin of man.
The probe of criticism must be intrusted to an impartial stander-by, of fine
talents and unshaken probity. Both those requisites centre in you : you are my
choice, and I give myself up to your direction. Heaven be praised, my lord,
said I, there is no need to trouble yourself with any such thoughts yet. Be-
sides, an understanding of your grace’s mould and calibre will last out double the
time of a common genius ; or to speak with more certainty and truth, it will
never be the worse for wear, if you live to the age of Methusalem. I consider
you as a second Cardinal Ximenes, whose powers, superior to decay, instead of
flagging with years, seemed to derive new vigour from their approximation with
the heavenly regions. No flattery, my friend! interrupted he. I know myself
to be in danger of failing all at once. At my age one begins to be sensible of
infirmities, and those of the body communicate with the mind. I repeat it to
you, Gil Blas, as soon as you shall be of opinion that my head is not so clear
as usual, give me warning of it instantly. Do not be afraid of offending by
frankness and sincerity, to put me in mind of my own frailty will be the strong-
est proof of your affection forme. Besides, your very interest is concerned in it,
for if it should, by any spite of chance towards you, come to my ears that the
people say in town, ‘‘ His grace’s sermons produce no longer their accustomed
impression, it is time for him to abandon his pulpit to younger candidates,” I
do assure you most seriously and solemnly, you will not only lose my friendship,
but the provision for life that I have promised you. Such will be the result of
your silly tampering with truth.
Here my patron left off to wait for my answer, which was an echo of his
speech, and a promise of obeying him in all things. From that moment there
were no secrets from me; I became the prime favourite. All the household,
except Melchior dela Ronda, looked at me with an eyeof envy. It was curious
to observe the manner in which the whole establishment, from the highest to the
lowest, thought it necessary to demean themselves towards his grace’s confiden-
tial secretary ; there was no meanness to which they would not stoop to curry
favour with me ; I could scarcely believe they were Spaniards, I left no stone
unturned to be of service to them, without being taken in by their interested
assiduities. My lord archbishop, at my entreaty, took them by the hand. He
got a company for one, and fitted him out so as to make a handsome figure in
the army. Another he sent to Mexico, with a considerable appointment which
he procured him ; and I obtained a good slice of his bounty for my friend Mel-
* chior. It was evident from these facts, that if the prelate was not particularly
active in good works, at least he rarely gave a churlish refusal, when any one
had the courage to importune him for his benevolence.
- But what I did for a priest seems to deserve being noticed more at large.
One day a certain licentiate, by name Lewis Garcias, a well-looking man still in
the prime of life, was presented to me by our steward, who said—Signor Gil
Blas, in this honest ecclesiastic you behold one of my best friends. He was
formerly chaplain to a nunnery. Scandal has taken a few liberties with his
chastity. | Malicious stories have been trumped up to hurt him in my lord arch-
bishop’s opinion, who has suspended him, and unfortunately is so strongly pre-
232 GIL BLAS.
judiced by his enemies, as to be deaf to any petition in his favour. In vain
have we interested the first people in Grenada to get him re-established; our
master will not hear of it.
These first people in Grenada, said I, have gone the wrong way to work. It
would have been much better if no interest at all had been made for the re-
verend licentiate. People have only done him a mischief by endeavouring to
serve him. I know my lord archbishop thoroughly: entreaties and impor-
tunate recommendations do but aggravate the ill condition of a clergyman
who lies under his displeasure: it is but a very short time ago since I heard
him mutter the following sentiment to himself. The more persons a priest,
who has been guilty of any misconduct, engages to speak to me in his behalf, .
the more widely is the scandal of the church disseminated, and the more severe
is my treatment of the offender. That is very unlucky, replied the steward ;
and my friend would be put to his last shifts if he did not write a good hand. .
But, happily, he has the pen of a ready scribe, and keeps his head above water
by the exercise of that talent. I was curious to see whether this boasted hand-
writing was so much better than my own. The licentiate, who had a specimen
in his pocket, shewed me a sheet which I admired very much: it had all the
regularity of a writing-master’s copy. In looking over this model of penman-
ship, an idea occurred to me. I begged Garcia to leave this paper in my hands,
saying, that I might be able to do something with it which should turn out to
his advantage; that I could not explain myself at that moment, but would tell
him more the next day. The licentiate,to whom the steward had evidently
talked big about my capacity to serve him, withdrew in as good spirits as if he
had already been restored to his functions.
I was in earnest in my endeavour that he should be so, and lost no time in
setting to work. Happening to be alone with the archbishop, I produced the
specimen, My patron was delighted with it. Seizing on this favourable op-
portunity, May it please your grace, said I, since you are determined not to put
your homilies to the press, I should very much like them at least to be tran-
scribed in this masterly manner.
I am very well satisfied with your performance, answered the prelate, but yet
I own that it would be a pleasant thing enough to have a copy of my works in
that hand. Your grace, replied I, has only to signify your wishes. The man
who copies so well is a licentiate of my acquaintance. It will give him so much
the more pleasure to gratify you, as it may be the means of interesting your
goodness to extricate him from the melancholy situation to which he has the
misfortune at present to be reduced.
The prelate could not do otherwise than‘inquire the name of this licentiate.
I told him it was Lewis Garcias. He is in despair at having drawn down
your censure upon him. That Garcias, interrupted he, if Iam not mistaken,
was chaplain in a convent of nuns, and has been brought into the ecclesiastical
court as a delinquent. I recollect some very heavy charges which have been
sent me against him. His morals are not the most exemplary. May it please
yo grace, interrupted I in my turn, it is not for me to justify him in all points ;
ut I know that he has enemies. He maintains that the authors of the informa-
tions you have received are more bent on doing him an ill office than on vindi-
cating the purity of religion. ‘That very possibly may be the case, replied the
archbishop ; there are a great many firebrands in the world. Besides, though
we should take it for granted that his conduct has not always been above sus-
picion, he may have repented of his sins; in short, the mercies of heaven are
infinite, however heinous our transgressions. Bring that licentiate before me, I
take off his suspension.
Thus it is that men of the most austere character descend from their altitudes,
THE ARCHBISHOP STRUCK WITH APOPLEXY. 233
when interest or a favourite whim reduces them to the level of the frail, The
archbishop granted, without a struggle, to the empty vanity of having his works
well copied, what he had refused to the most respectable applications. I carried
the news with all possible expedition to the steward, who communicated it to
his friend Garcias. That licentiate, on the following day, came to return me
thanks commensurate with the favour obtained. I presented him to my master,
who contented himself with giving him a slight reprimand, and put the homilies
into his hand, to copy them out fair. Garcias performed the task so satisfactorily,
that he was reinstated in the cure of souls, and was afterwards preferred to the
living of Gabia, a large market town in the neighbourhood of Grenada.
Cu. IV.—Zhe Archbishop is affticted with a stroke of apoplexy. How Gil Blas
gets into a dilemma, and how he gets out,
WHILE I was thus rendering myself a blessing first to one and then to the
other, Don Ferdinand de Leyva was making his arrangements for leaving
Grenada. I called on that nobleman before his departure, to thank him once
more for the advantageous post he had procured me. My expressions of satis-
faction were so lively, that he said—My dear Gil Blas, I am delighted to find
you in such good humour with my uncle the archbishop.. I am absolutely in
love with him, answered I. His goodness to me has been such as I can never
sufficiently acknowledge. Less than my present happiness could never have
made me amends for being at so great a distance from Don Cesar and his son.
I am persuaded, replied he, that they are both of them equally chagrined at
having lost you. But possibly you aré not separated for ever; fortune may
some day bring you together again. I could not hear such an idea started
without being moved by it. My sighs would find vent; and I felt at that mo-
ment so strong an affection for Don Alphonso, that I could willingly have turned
my back on the archbishop and all the fine prospects that were opening to me,
and have gone back to the castle of Leyva, had but a mortification taken place
in the back of the scarecrow which had frightened me away. Don Ferdinand
was not insensible to the emotions that agitated me, and felt himself so much
obliged by them, that he took his leave with the assurance of the whole family
always taking an anxious interest in my fate.
Two months after this worthy gentleman had left us, in the luxuriant harvest
of my highest favour, a lowering storm came suddenly over the episcopal palace;
the archbishop’ had a stroke of apoplexy. By dint of immediate applications
and good nursing, in a few days there was no bodily appearance of disease re-
maining, But his reverend intellects did not so easily recover from their
lethargy. I could not help observing it to myself in the very first discourse that
he composed. Yet there was not such a wide gap between the merits of the
present and the former ones, as to. warrant the inference that the sun of oratory
was many degrees advanced in its post-meridian course. A second homily was
worth waiting for; because that would clearly determine the line of my conduct.
Alas, and well-a-day! when that second homily came, it was a knock-down ar-
gument. Sometimes the good prelate moved forward, and sometimes he moved
backwards; sometimes he mounted up into the garret; and sometimes dipped
down into the cellar. It was.a composition of more sound than meaning, some-
thing like a superannuated schoolmaster’s theme, when he attempts to give his
boys more sense than he possesses of his own, or like a capuchin’s sermon, which
only scatters a few artificial flowers of paltry rhetoric over a barren desert of
doctrine.
I was not the only person whom the alteration struck. The audience at
large, when he delivered it, as if they too had been pledged to watch the
234 GIL BLAS.
advances of dotage, said to one another in a whisper all round the church—
Here is a sermon, with symptoms of apoeeey in every paragraph. Come, my
good Coryphzeus of the public taste in homilies, said I then to myself, prepare
to do your office. You see that my lord archbishop is going very fast—you
ought to warn him of it, not only as his bosom friend, on whose sincerity he
relies, but lest some blunt fellow should anticipate you, and bolt out the truth
in an offensive manner. In that case you know the consequence ; you would
be struck out of his will, where no doubt you have a more convertible bequest
than the licentiate Sedillo’s library.
But as reason, like Janus, looks at things with two faces, I began to consider
the other side of the question ; the hint seemed difficult to wrap up so as to
make it palatable. Authors in general are stark mad on the subject of their
own works, and such an author might be more testy than the common herd of
the irritable race : but that suspicion seemed illiberal on my part, for it was
impossible that my freedom should be taken amiss, when it had been forced
upon me by so positive an injunction. Add to this, that I reckoned upon
handling the subject skilfully, and cramming discretion down his throat like a
high-seasoned epicurean dish. After all my pro and con, finding that I risked
more by keeping silence than by breaking it, I determined to venture on the
delicate duty of speaking my mind.
Now there was but one difficulty ; a difficulty indeed! how to open the
business. Luckily the orator himself extricated me from that embarrassment,
by asking what they said of him in the world at large, and whether people
were tolerably well pleased with his last discourse. I answered that there
could be but one opinion about his homilies ; but that it should seem as if the
last had not quite struck home to the hearts of the audience, like those which
had gone before. Do you really mean what you say, my friend? replied he,
with a sort of wriggling surprise. Then my congregation are more in the temper
of Aristarchus than of Longinus! No, may it please your grace, rejoined I,
quite the contrary. Performances of that order are above the reach of vulgar
criticism : there is not a soul but expects to be saved by their influence. Never-
theless, since you have made it my duty to be sincere and unreserved, I shall
take the liberty of just stating that your last discourse is not written with quite
the overpowering eloquence and conclusive argument of your former ones.
Does not your grace feel just as I do on the subject ?
This ignorant and stupid frankness of mine completely blanched my master’s
cheek ; but he forced a fretful smile, and said—Then, good Master Gil Blas,
that piece does not exactly hit your fancy? I did not mean to say that, your
grace, interrupted I, looking very foolish. It is very far superior to what any
one else could produce, though a little below par with respect to your own
works in general. I know what you mean, repliedhe. You think I am going
down hill, do not you? Out with it at once. It is your opinion that itis time
for me to think of retiring ? I should never have had the presumption, said I,
to deliver myself with so little reserve, if it had not been your grace’s express
command. I act in entire obedience to your grace’s orders ; and I most
obsequiously implore your grace not to take offenceat my boldness. I were
unfit to live in a Christian land ! interrupted he, with stammering impatience ;
I were unfit to live in a Christian land if I liked you the less for such a Chris-
tian virtue as sincerity. A man who does not love sincerity sets his face against
the distinguishing mark between a friend and a flatterer. I should have given
you infinite credit for speaking what you thought, if you had thought anything
that deserved to be spoken. I have been finely taken in by your outside shew
of cleverness, without any solid foundation of sober judgment !
Though completely unhorsed, and at the enemy’s mercy, I wanted to make
GIL BLAS LEAVES THE ARCHBISHOP. 235
terms of decent capitulation, and to go unmolested into winter quarters: but
let those who think to appease an exasperated author, and especially an author
whose ear has been long attuned to the music of his own praises, take warn-
ing by my fate. Let us talk no more onthe subject, my very young friend, said
he. You are as yet scarcely in the rudiments of good taste, and utterly incom-
petent to distinguish between gold and tinsel. You are yet to learn that I never
in all my life composed a finer homily than that unfortunate one which had not
the honour of your approbation. The immortal part of me, by the blessing of
heaven on me and my congregation, is less weighed down by human infirmity
than when the flesh was stronger. We all grow wiser as we grow older, and I
shall in future select the people about me with more caution ; nor submit the
castigation of my works but to a much abler critic than yourself. Get about
your business ! pursued he, giving me an angry shove by the shoulders out of
his closet ; go and tell my treasurer to pay you a hundred ducats, and take my
riestly blessing in addition to that sum. God speed you, good Master Gil
las! I heartily pray that you may do well in the world! There is nothing to
stand in your way, but the want of a little better taste.
pte ae
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Sa ot a
Cu. V.—The course which Gil Blas took after the archbishop had given him his
dismissal. His accidental meeting with the licentiate who was so deeply in his
debt, and a picture of gratitude in the person of a parson.
I MADE the best of my way out of the closet, cursing the caprice, or more pro-
perly the dotage of the archbishop, and more in dudgeon at his absurdity, than
cast down at the loss of his good graces. For some time it was a moot point
whether I should go and lay claim to my hundred ducats ; but after having
weighed the matter dispassionately, I was not such a fool as to quarrel with my
bread and butter. There was no reason why that money, fairly earned, should ;
deprive me of my natural right to make a joke of this ridiculous prelate ; in which :
good deed I promised myself not to be wanting, as often as himself or his homi-
lies were brought upon the carpet in my hearing. 4
I went therefore and asked the treasurer for a hundred ducats, without telling
a word about the literary warfare between his master and me. Afterwards I
called on Melchior de la Ronda, to take along leave ofhim. He was too much
my friend not to sympathize with my misfortune. While I was telling my story
vexation was strongly imprinted on my countenance. In spite of all his respect
for the archbishop, he could not help blaming him ; but, when in the fever of
my resentment I threatened to be a match for the prelate, and to entertain the |
whole city at his expense, the prudent Melchior gave me a salutary caution : 4
Take my advice, my dear Gil Blas, and rather pocket the affront. Men ofa
lower sphere in life should always be cap in hand to people of quality, whatever BF PP: j
may be their grounds of complaint. It must be admitted, there are some very a ow
coarse specimens of greatness, which in themselves are scarcely deserving of the’\ “VU om
least respect or attention ; but even such animals have their weapons of annoy- ee Lt ae
ance, and it is best to keep out of their way. yt . gv fox .
I thanked the old valet-de-chambre for the good counsel he had given me, e*
and promised to be guided by it. Pleased with my deference to his opinion, he 5 eat Ae af
said tome: If you go to Madrid, be sure you call upon my nephew, Joseph ne ae itt eal
Navarro. He is factotum in the family of Signor Don Balthazar de Zunigna, e haan
and I can venture to recommend him as a lad in every respect worthy of your oe
friendship. He is just as nature made him, with all the vivacity of youth,
courteous in his manners, and forward to oblige ; I could wish you to get ac-/ la
quainted with him. _I answered that I would not fail to go and see this Joseph -\
Navarro as soon as I should get to Madrid, whither I meant to return in due !
236 GIL BLAS.
time. Then did I turn my back on the episcopal palace, never to grace it with
my presence again. If I had kept my horse, I should perhaps have set out for
Toledo immediately ; but I had sold it during the period of my administration,
supposing that I was in office for life, and should not henceforward be migra-
tory. My final resolution was to hire a ready-furnished lodging, as I had made
up my mind to stay another month in Grenada, and then to pay the Count de
Polan a visit.
As dinner-hour was drawing nigh, I asked my landlady if there was any eat-
ing-house in the neighbourhood. She answered that there was a very good one
within a few yards of her house, where the accommodations were excellent, and
the company select and numerous. I made her shew me where it was, and
went thither sharp set. I was shewn intoa large room, resembling the hall of
a monastery in everything but good cheer. There were ten or a dozen men
sitting at a long table, with a cloth spread over it that fretted in its own grease ;
but they, with unoffended nostrils, were engaged in general conversation, though
they dined individually, each having a miserable scrap for his portion. e
people of the house brought me my allowance, which at another time would
have turned my stomach, and have made me sigh after the luxuries of the table
I had just lost. But at this moment I was so indignant against the archbishop,
that the homely fare of a paltry eating-house seemed more palatable than the
dainties of his sumptuous oes It was a burning shame to see such a waste
of provisions served up in soups and sauces to pamper the appetite. Arguing
like a deep examiner in the economy of the human frame, and reasoning medically
as well as philosophically, on the disproportion between the simple wants of
nature and the complexity of luxurious indulgence ; cursed be they, said I, who
invented those pernicious dinners and suppers, where one must sit on the ten-
terhooks of self-denial, for fear of overloading the storehouse and shop of the
whole body !_ Man wants but little here below ; and provided he can but keep
body and soul together, the less he eats the better. Thus did I, in my surly
vein, give utterance to wise saws ; which, however just in theory, had hitherto
been little recommended by my practice,
While I was dispatching my commons, without any danger of a surfeit from
repletion, the licentiate Lewis Garcias, who had got the living of Gabia in the
manner above-mentioned, came intothe room. ‘The moment her ized me,
he ran into my arms with all the cordiality of friendship, or rather with the ex-
travagant joy of a lover aftera long exile from his mistress. He folded me
repeatedly within his sincere embrace, and I was compelled to stand the brunt
of a long-winded compliment on the unparalleled disinterestedness of my con-
duct towards him. Gratitude is a fine virtue; and yet it is wearisome when
carried beyond due bounds! He took his seat next me, saying: Well! a par-
son must not swear ; though by the mass, my dear patron, since my good fortune
has thrown me in your way, we will not part without a jovial glass. But as
there is no good wine in this shabby inn, I will take you, if you please, after
our make-shift dinner, to a place where I will treat you with a couple of bottles,
rich, genuine, and old, in comparison of which the Falernian of Horaee was all
a farce. The church will give us absolution, in the cause of gratitude! If I
could but get you for a few days down at my parsonage of Gabia! Maecenas
was never more welcome to the poet’s Sabine farm, than the author of all my
ease and comfort to the choicest produce of a glebe which is mine only by your
benevolence.
While he was holding this high-flown lan e, his little slice of dinner was
set before him. He fell to without the fear of indigestion before his eyes, still
heightening the luxury of the repast at intervals, by fine speeches addressed to
me in the most fulsome style of flattery. I took the opportunity, when his
INGRATITUDE OF LEWIS GARCTIAS. 237
mouth was filled with something more substantial, to edge in a word or two
amidst the torrent ; and as he had not forgotten to ask after his friend the
steward, I made no bones about acknowledging that I was no longer a hanger-
on of the church. I even went so far as to particularize the most trivial cir-
cumstances attending my resignation, to all of which he listened with an atten-
tive ear. After all his fine professions, who would not have expected to see
him moved even to tears with the throes of resentful gratitude, to hear him
thunder bulls and interdicts against the superannuated archbishop? The devil
2 bit! he did neither the one thing northe other. But his countenance fell, and
his whole air was that of an absent man ; the rest of his dinner was bolted down
without the garnish of intermediate talk about Mzcenas ; as soon as he had
done, he hurried from table without minding grace or gratitude, wished me
ood day with a cold and distant air, and got off as fast as possible. The un-
Feeliae scoundrel, perceiving that I was no longer in a situation for him to pump
anything out of me, would not even take the trouble to draw a decent veil over
his dirty principles. But such a blackguard could excite no other sensa-
tion than contempt and laughter. Looking at him with derision, the fittest
chastisement for fellows like these, I called after him loud enough to be heard
by the whole room: Stop there, you nun’s priest !. Go and put those two bot-
tles in ice against Mzecenas comes to the Sabine farm! Be sure they are rich,
genuine, and old ; or they will be a farce to Falernian.
Cu. VI.—Gil Blas goes to the play at Grenada. His surprise at seeing one of
the actresses, and what happened thereupon.
No sooner had Garcias rid the room of his presence, than two gentlemen came
in, extremely well dressed, and took their seats close byme. They began talk-
ing about the players of the Grenada company, and about a new piece which
just then had a great run. According to their account, it was quite the town
talk. Nothing would do for me, but to go and see it that very day. I had
never been at the play since my residence at Grenada. As I had lived nearly
the whole time in the archbishop’s palace, where all such profane shews were
condemned as uncanonical, I had been cut off from every recreation of that sort.
All my knowledge of men and manners was drawn from homilies !
I repaired therefore to the theatre at the appointed hour, and found a very
full house. All around me, discussions were going on about the piece before
the curtain drew up; and there was not a soul in the numerous assembly but
had some remark to make upon it. One liked it, another could not bear it.
Do not you think the dialogue is particularly happy? said a candid critic on my
right: Was there ever such miserable stuff! cried a snarling critic on my left.
In good truth, if bad authors abound, it must be admitted that the public are at
variance about what is good and what is bad: but the bad judges havea right to
be pleased for their money; and as they far outnumber the good ones, their
favourite writers can never want employment. When one only considers through
what an ordeal dramatic poets have to pass, it is a matter of wonder that any
should be found hardy enough at once to contend against the ignorance of the
multitude, and the random shot of those self-created guides in matters of taste,
who always pretend to lead the blindness of the public judgment, and too fre-
quently push it into the mire of absurdity.
At length the buffoon of the piece came forward by way of prologue. As
soon as his grotesque countenance was visible, there was a general clapping of
hands; a sure indication of his being one of those spoiled actors, who are al-
lowed to take any liberties with the pit, and to be applauded through thick and
thin. In fact, this player neither opened his lips, nor moved a muscle, without
238 GIL BLAS.
exciting the most extravagant raptures. He would have performed better, had
he been less conscious what a favourite he was. But he presumed on that cir-
cumstance most abominably. I observed that he sometimes forgot what was set
down for him, and took the licence of adding to his part out of his own free
fancy; a common cause of complaint against low comedians, which, though it
make the unskilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve. Would the
audience but receive such mirth with hisses, instead of crying bravo, they might
restrain the absurd practice, and purge the stage from barbarism,
Some of the other a were greeted with the usual tokens on their en-
trance, and particularly an actress who played the chambermaid. There was
something about her which more than usually attracted my attention ; and lan-
age must sink under the labour of expressing my astonishment at tracing the
eatures of Laura, that fair, that chaste, that inexpressible she, whom I supposed
to be still at Madrid, warbling in one key, with hands, sides, voice, and mind in-
corporate with Arsenia. But there could be no doubt of her identity. The
kick in her gallop, the leer in her eye, and the tripping pertness of her tongue,
all conspired in evidence that there could be no mistake. Yet, as if I had re-
fused belief to the affidavit of my own eyes and ears, I asked her name of a
gentleman who was sitting beside me. What the deuce! Why, where do you
come from? said he. You must unquestionably be a new importation, not to
have seen‘or heard of the divine Estella.
The likeness was too perfect for me to be mistaken. It was easy to compre-
hend why Laura, changing her sphere of action, changed her name also; where-
fore from curiosity to know how matters stood with her, since the public always
pry into the most private concerns of theatrical persons, I inquired of the same
man whether this Estella had any particular affair of gallantry on her hands.
He informed me that for the last two months there had beena great Portuguese
nobleman at Grenada, his name was the Marquis de Marialva, who had laid out
a great deal of money upon her. He might have told me more, if I had not
been afraid of becoming troublesome with my questions. I was better employed
in musing on the information this good geritleman had given me, than in attend-
ing to the play; and if any one had asked me what it was all about, when the
iece was over, I should have been puzzled for an answer. I could do nothin
but decline Laura and Estella through all cases and numbers; till at length
boldly made up my mind to call at her house the next day. Not but there was
some risk as to the reception she might give me: it might be suspected, with-
out excess of modesty, that my appearance would give her no great pleasure in
the high tide of her affairs ; nor was it at all improbable that so good an actress,
to revenge herself on a man, with whom certainly she had an account to settle,
might look strange, and swear she had never seen his face before. Yet did
none of these apprehensions deter me from my venture. After a light supper,
for all the meals at my eating-house were regulated on principles of economy
and temperance, I withdrew to my chamber with an anxious longing for the
next day.
My ba was short and interrupted; so that I got up by daybreak. But as
it was to be recollected that a mistress in high keep was not likely to be visible
early in the morning, I passed three or four hours in dressing, shaving, powder-
ing, and perfuming. It was my business to present myself before her in a trim,
not to put her to the blush at acknowledging my acquaintance. I sallied forth
about ten o’clock, and knocked at her door, after having inquired her address
at the theatre. She was living on the first floor of a large and elegant house.
I told a chambermaid who opened the door to me, that a young man wanted
to speak with her lady. The chambermaid went in to give my message, when
all at once I heard her mistress call out, not in the best-tempered tone in
GIL BLAS ACCIDENTALLY DISCOVERS LAURA. ° 439
the world, Who is the young man? What does he want? Shew him up-
stairs.
This was a hint to me that my time was ill chosen; that probably her Portu-
guese lover was at her toilette, and that she spoke so loud, with the laudable
design of convincing him that she was not a sort of girl to allow of any im-
pertinent intruders. This conjecture of mine turned out to be the fact; the
Marquis de Marialva lounged away almost every morning with her: I had made
up my mind to be kicked down-stairs by way of welcome; but that admirable
actress, never forgetting her cue, ran forward with open arms at the sight of me,
exclaiming : Ah! my dear brother, is it you that 1 behold? On the strength
of so near a kindred, she was no niggard of her embraces ; but recollected her-
self so far as to say, turning round to the Portuguese, My lord, you must excuse
me if nature will put in her claim, and trench upon good breeding. After three
years of absence, I cannot see a brother once again, whom I love so tenderly,
without expressing my feelings in all their warmth. Come! my dear Gil Blas,
continued she, addressing me afresh, tell me some news of the family: in what
circumstances did you leave it ?
This whimsical scene disconcerted me at first; but I was not long in seeing
through Laura’s intention ; and playing up to her with a spirit scarcely less than
her own, answered according to the plot: Heaven be praised, sister, all our good
folks are in perfect health, and well in the world. I make no doubt, resumed
she, but you must be very much surprised to find me an actress in Grenada; but
hear me first and blame me afterwards. It is three years, as you may recollect,
since my father thought to have established me advantageously in marriage with
Don Antonio Ccello, an officer in the service, who took me from the Asturias to
Madrid, his native place. Six months after our arrival, he got into an affair of
honour in consequence of his violent temper. Some attentions incautiously paid
to me were the cause of the affray, and his antagonist was killed. This gentle-
man was of a family high in rank and interest. My husband, who though
well born, had very few connections, made his escape into Catalonia with every-
thing he could get together in jewels and ready money. He embarked at
Barcelona, went over into Italy, enlisted in the Venetian service, and finally lost
his life in the Morea, fighting against the Turks. In the mean time, a landed
éState which constituted our whole revenue was confiscated, and I was left a
widow with very little for my support. What was to be done in so pressing an
emergency? ‘There was nothing left to pay my travelling expenses back into
the Asturias. And then what should I have done there? I should have got
nothing from my family but a long string of condolences, which would have
furnished me neither with food nor with raiment. On the other hand, I had
been too well brought up to fall into those courses, into which too many poor
young women are betrayed for the sake of a scandalous subsistence. ‘There was
but one thing remaining for me to determine on. I turned actress to preserve
my morals.
So tingling a sense of ridicule came over me, when Laura wound up her
romance with this pious motive for turning actress, that I could scarcely refrain
from relieving myself by a fit of laughter. But gravity was of too much conse-
quence to be dispensed with; and I said to her with an air the counterpart of
her own—My dear sister, I entirely approve of your conduct, and am heartily
lad to meet with you at Grenada, and moreover settled on so respectable a
ooting,
The Marquis de Marialva, who had not lost a word of all these fine speeches,
swallowed down blindfold whatever Don Antonio’s widow thought fit to
drench his credulity with. He took part in the conversation too, and asked
me whether I had any fixed employment in Grenada or elsewhere, I paused’
240 GIL BLAS.
for a moment to consider whether and after what manner I should lie; but as
there seemed no need in this case to draw on my invention, I told the truth by
way of variety. Ina plain matter of fact manner did I rehearse my introduc-
tion to the archbishop’s palace, and my discharge therefrom, to the infinite
amusement of his Portuguese Seoei's o be sure, in telling the truth, I did
not keep my word, for I could not help launching out a little at the archbishop’s
expense, in spite of my solemn promise given to Melchior. But the best of the
joke was, that Laura, taking my story for a fiction invented after her example,
burst out into peals of laughter: whereas the whimsicality of the circumstance
would have raised a soberer mirth, had she known it to have been alloyed with
the base ingredient of veracity.
After having come to the end of my tale, which closed with just mentioning
the lodging I had taken, dinner was announced. I instantly motioned to with-
draw, as if intending to take that frugal meal at home; but Laura would not
hear of it. Do you mean to affront me, brother? said she. You must dine
here. Indeed, I cannot think of your staying any longer at a paltry inn. You
must positively board and lodge in my house, Send your trunks hither this
very evening; there is a spare bed for you.
His Portuguese lordship, possibly not altogether relishing this excess of hos-
itality even to a brother, then interfered between us, and said to Laura—No,
Estella, you have not sufficient accommodation to give him a bed without incon-
venience. Your brother seems to be a clever young fellow; and the circum-
~ Kind of his being so nearly related to you, gives him a strong claim on my
k ;
indness. He shall be put at once upon my establishment. I amin want of
a secretary, and shall delight in giving him the appointment: he shall be my
right-hand man. Let him be sure to come and sleep at my house this very night ;
I will order a room to be got ready for him. I will fix his regular salary at
four hundred ducats; and if on better acquaintance I have reason, as I trust
I shall, to be satisfied with him, I will place him in a situation to laugh at
the consequences of having been a little too plain-spoken with his patron the
archbishop,
My acknowledgments to the marquis for this high honour were followed by
those of Laura, who far exceeded me in powers of panegyric. Let us drop
the subject, interrupted he; it is a settled point. Settled as it was, he con-
firmed the contract on the lips of his green-room Dulcinea, and went his way.
She immediately pulled me by the arm into a closet, where, secure from inter-
ruption, she cried out, Cut my laces! I shall burst if I do not give way at
once to the fit of laughter that is coming over me. And so she probably would;
for she threw herself into an arm-chair, and holding both her sides, shouted
out her convulsive peal of mirth like a mad woman. It was impossible for me
to refrain from fo ening her example. When we had exhausted our risible
pares Own, Gil Blas, said she, that we have just been acting a very
umorous farce. But I did not look for the concluding scene, My only
thought was to secure you board and lodging under my own roof; and there
was no other possibility of making the proposition in a modest way but by pass-
ing you off for my brother. But I am heartily glad that the chapter of accidents
has opened with so good a berth for you. The Marquis de Marialva is a noble-
man of liberaland honourable sentiments, who will be better than his word in
what he does for you. But confess now! There is scarcely a woman in exist-
ence except myself, would have given so coming-on a reception to a fellow who
shirks his friends without saying with your leave or by your leave. I however
am one of those simple-hearted girls, who are glad to receive back again the
base man they have once loved, though he should have offended and repented
seven, or even seven thousand times,
LAURA’S STORY. 24t
The best way for me was to acknowledge the extreme ill-breeding of which
I had been guilty, to blush and beg pardon once forall. After this explana-
tion, she led the way to a very handsome dining-room. We placed ourselves
at table, where having a chambermaid and a footboy for eye-witnesses, we kept
within the bounds of brother and sister. When we had done dinner, we went
back again into the same closet where we had been conversing before. Having
our time to ourselves, my paragon of a Laura, giving herself up to her natural
love of merriment, and to her no less natural curiosity, required from me a
faithful and true narrative of all my pros and cons, my ins and outs, since that
unmannerly separation of ours. I gave her a full and particular account:
nothing extenuating on my own behalf, nor setting down aught in malice on
the other side. When I had quenched her thirst after a story, she slaked mine,
by communicating the particulars of her eventful life to the following effect.
Cu. VII.—Laura’s Story.
I SHALL just run over to you, as briefly as possible, the circumstances which
led me to embrace the theatrical profession.
After you took French leave, so much to your credit, great events happened.
My mistress Arsenia, more surfeited with a glut of pleasures than scandalized
at their immorality, renounced the stage, and took me with her to a fine estate
which she had just purchased in the neighbourhood of Zenora with the wages of
her sinful life. Wesoon got acquainted inthetown. Our visits there were very
frequent ; and sometimes for a day or two together. With the exception of these
little excursions, we were as closely domesticated as probationers in a nunnery,
and almost as piously employed.
On one of our high days and holidays, Don Felix Moldonado, the corregi-
dor’s only son, saw me by chance, and took a liking tome. He soon found
an opportunity of speaking with me in private; and, as it is in vain to affect
modesty before one who knows me so well, there was some little contrivance of
my own to bring the interview about. The young gentleman was not twenty
years of age; the very picture of Venus’s sweetheart, or Venus’s sweetheart
the very picture of him; with a form for a sculptor to work from; with an
address so elegant, and with sentiments so generous, as to throw even his per-
sonal graces into the background. There was such a winning way with him,
so pressing an earnestness to prevail, when he took a large diamond from his
own finger, and slid it upon mine, that it would have been quite brutal not to
have let it stay there. It was really something like sentiment that I began to
entertain towards a swain of so interesting a character. But what an absurd
thing it is for wenches of a certain sort to hook themselves upon young men of
family, when their surly fathers hold official situations! The corregidor, who
had scarcely his equal in the whole tribe of corregidors, got wind of our corre-
spondence, and determined to close it ina summary manner. He sent a host
of alguazils to take me into custody, who dragged me away, in spite of my
cries and tears, to the house of correction for female penitents.
There, without bill of indictment or form of trial, the lady abbess ordered me
to be stripped of my ring and my clothes, and to be dressed in the habit of the
institution ; a long gown of grey serge tied about the middle with a’strap of
black leather, whence depended a rosary with large beads swinging down to
my heels. After this pleasant reception, they took me into a hall, where there
was an old monk, the deuce knows of what order, who set to work preaching
up repentance and resignation, pretty much in the same strain as Dame Leon-
arda, when she exhorted ‘tg? to patience in the subterraneous cavern. He told
me that I was excessively obliged indeed to those good people who had so
242 GIL BLAS.
kindly shut me up, and could never thank them sufficiently for their good deed,
in rescuing me from the harpy talons of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
But I must frankly own that all my other sins were pressed down and heaped
high with ingratitude: far from overflowing with the milk of human kindness
towards those who had conferred such a favour upon me, I abused them in
terms that would have put any dictionary to the blush.
Eight days thus passed in this wilderness of desolation ; but on the ninth, for
J had notched the hours and even the minutes on a stick, my fate seemed be-
ginning to take another turn, Crossing a little court, I met the house steward,
a personage whose will was absolute ; yes, the lady abbess herself was obedient
to his will, He rendered an account of his stewardship to none but the corre-
gidor, on whom alone he was dependent, and whose confidence in him was un-
bounded. His name was Pedro Zendono, and the town of Salsedon in Biscay
laid claim to the honour of his birth. Figure to yourself a tall man, with the
complexion of a mummy and the bare anatomy of a dealer in mortification ; he
might have sat for the penitent thief in a picture of the crucifixion. He scarcely
ever cast a carnal glance towards us Magdalens. You never sawsuch a face of
rank hypocrisy in all your life, though you have spent some part of it under the
same roof with the archbishop, and are not unacquainted with the clergy of his
diocese.
But to return from this digression;....I met this Signor Zendono, who
said to me slily as he passed—Take comfort, my girl, I am sensibly affected
with your wretched case. He said no more, and went on his way, leaving me
to make my own comments on so concise and general a text. As he looked
like a good man, and there was no positive evidence to set against his looks, I
was simpleton enough to fancy that he had taken the,trouble of inquiring why
I was shut up ; and meant, not finding me so atrocious a culprit as to deserve
such shameful insults, to take my part with the corregidor. But [was not up
to the tricks of the Biscayan, he had a much longer head. He was turning over
in his mind the scheme of an elopement, and made the proposal to me in pro-
found privacy some days afterwards, My dear Laura, said he, your sufferings
have taken such deep possession of my mind, that I have determined to end
them. Iam perfectly aware that my own ruin is involved in the measure, but
needs must when the tender passion drives. To-morrow morning do I intend
to take you out of prison, and conduct you in person to Madrid. No sacrifice
is too great for the pleasure of being your deliverer.
I was very near fainting with surprise and joy at this promise of Zendono,
who, concluding from my acknowledgments that my very life depended on my
rescue, had the effrontery to carry me off next day in the face of the whole town,
by the following device :—He told the lady abbess that he had orders to take
me before the corregidor, who was at his country box a few miles of ; and with-
out betraying himself by a single change of countenance, packed me off, with
him for my companion, in a post-chaise drawn by two good mules which he
had bought for the occasion. Our only attendant was the driver, a servant of
his own, and entirely devoted to the steward by stronger ties than those of
gratitude. We began bowling away, not in the direction of Madrid, as I had
taken for granted, but towards the frontiers of Portugal, whither we got in less
time than it took the corregidor of Zamora to receive the deposition of our flight,
and uncouple his pack or set them barking at our heels.
Before we entered Braganza, the Biscayan made me put on man’s clothes,
with whith he had taken the precaution of providing himself. Reckoning on
me as being fairly launched in the same boat with him, he said to me in the
inn where we put up, Lovely Laura, do not take it unkindly of me to have brought
you into Portugal, The corregidor of Zamora will make our own country too
LAURA'S STORY. 243
es
hot to hold us, for in his eyes we are two criminals, under the weight of whose
enormities it is not for Spain to groan. But we may set his malice at defiance
in this distant realm, though at the present conjuncture under the dominion of
the Spanish monarchy. At least we shall stand a better chance for safety here
than at home. League your fortunes with those of a man who would follow you
in prosperity or in adversity through the world. Let us fix our residence at
Coimbra. ‘There I will get employed as a spy for the inquisition ; under the
cover of that formidable tribunal, a refreshing shade for us, but Cimmerian
darkness to its victims, our days will glide smoothly on in ease and pleasure,
we shall fatten on the spoil of religious delinquency.
A proposal so much to the point gave me to understand that I had to do with
a knight, who had other motives for officiating as the guardian of distressed
damsels, besides the honour of chivalry. I saw at once that he reckoned much
on my gratitude, and still more on my distress. Nevertheless, though these
two pleas were almost equally eloquent in his favour, I rejected his addresses
with disdain, The reason was, that there were two advocates still more eloquent
on the side of a refusal ; a certainty that he was disagreeable, and a strong sus-
picion that he was poor. But when he returned to the charge, and offered to
say the grace of matrimony before he fell to, proving to me at the same time,
by the undeniable evidence of cash in hand, that his stewardship had enabled
him to live in clover for a long time to come, the truth must come out in spite
of blushes ; my heart was softened, and my ears unstopped. I was dazzled by
the gold and jewels which he laid out in burning row before me, and became a
living monument in my own person, that miraculous transformations are effect-
ed by the power of pelf, as well as by the wand of love. My Biscayan became,
hy little and little, quite another sort of man in my eyes. His tall body and
bare bones were plumped up into a shapely and commanding figure ; his ca-
daverous complexion was improved into a manly brown: even that look, as if
butter would not melt in his mouth, was no longer hypocrisy, but a staid and
decent aspect. Having made these discoveries, I accepted his hand without
any material abhorrence, and he plighted the usual vows inall due form. After
this, like a good wife, I kept the spirit of contradiction as much as possible
underthehatches, We resumed our journey, and Coimbra soon received a new
family within its walls.
My husband stocked my wardrobe as became my sex and station, making me
a present of several diamonds, among which I fixed my eye on that of Don
Felix Maldonado, ‘There were no further documents wanting to give a shrewd
guess whence came all the precious stones I had seen, and to be morally certain
that I had not married a troublesomely nice observer of the eighth article in the
decalogue. Yet, considering myself as the main-spring of all his little devia-
tions from the strict law of propriety, it was not for me to judge harshly on that
point. A woman can always find a palliation for the misdeeds which are set
in motion by the power of her own beauty. But for that, he certainly would
have ranked no higher than one of the wicked in my estimation.
I had no great reason to complain of him fer two or three months. His at-
tentions were always polite and kind, amounting apparently to a sincere and
tender affection. But no such thing! These proofs of wedded love, this wor-
shipping with the body, and endowing with the worldly goods, were all but a
copy of his countenance ; for the cheating fellow meant, as men serve a cucum-
ber, to throw me away on tlie first opportunity. One morning, at my return
from mass, I found nothing at home but the bare walls; the moveables, not
excepting my own apparel, every stick and every thread, had been carried off.
Zendono and his faithful servant had taken their measures so adroitly, that in
less than an hour the house had been completely gutted ; so that with nothing
*
oAA GIL BLAS.
but the gown upon my back, and Don Felix’s ring, as good luck would have it,
on my finger, here stood I, like another Ariadne, abandoned by the ungrateful
rifler of my effects as well as of my charms, But you may take my word for it,
I did not beguile the sense of my misfortunes in tragedy, elegy, scene individ-
able, or poem unlimited. I rather fell upon my knees, and blessed my guard-
jan pee 5 for having delivered me from a rascal who must sooner or later fall
into the hands of justice. The time we had passed together I considered in the
light of a dead loss, and my spirits were all on the alert to make up for it. If
I had been inclined to stay in Portugal, as a hanger-on to some woman of fash-
ion, I should have found no difficulty in suiting myself; but whether it was
patriotism, or some a conjunction, preparing a better fortune for me
under the influence of the planets, my whole heart was bent on getting back into
Spain. I applied to a jeweller, who valued my diamond and gave me cash for
it, and then took my departure with an old Spanish lady who was going to
Seville in a post-chaise.
This lady, whose name was Dorothea, had been to see a relation settled at
Coimbra, and was on her return to Seville, where she lived. There was such
a sympathy between us, as made us fast friends on the very first day of our
acquaintance; and the attachment grew so close while we travelled together,
that the lady insisted, at our journey’s end, on my making her house my home.
I had no reason to repent having formed such a connection. Never was there
a woman of a more charming character. One might still conclude from the
turn of her countenance, and from the spirit not yet quenched in her eyes, that
in her youth the catgut of many a guitar must have been fretted under her
window. As a proof of this, she had many trials what a state of widowhood
was; her husbands had all been of noble birth, and her finances were flourish-
ing on the accumulation of her several jointures,
Among other admirable qualities, she had that of not visiting severely the
frailties of her own sex. When I let her into the secret of mine, she entered so
warmly into my interests, as to speak of Zendono with more sincerity than —
manners, What graceless fellows these men are! said she in a tone from
which one might infer that she had met with some light-fingered steward in the
passing of her accounts. They would not be worth picking off a dunghill, if
one could do without them! There is a large fraternity of sorry scoundrels in
the world, who make it their sport to gain the hearts of women, and then
desert them. There is, however, one consoling circumstance, my dear child.
According to your account, you are by no means bound fast to that faithless
Biscayan. If your marriage with him was sufficiently formal to save your
credit with the world, on the other hand, it was contracted loosely enough to
admit of your trying your luck at a better match, whenever an opportunity may
fall in your way.
I went out every day with Dorothea, either to church, or to visit among her
friends; both likely occasions of picking up an adventure; so that I attracted
the notice of several gentlemen. ‘There were some of them who had a mind to
feel how the land lay. They made their proposals to my venerable protectress ;
but these had not wherewithal to defray the expenses of an establishment, and
those were mere unfledged boys under age; an insuperable objection, which
left me very little merit in turning a deaf ear to them. One day a whim seized
Dorothea and me, to go and see a play at Seville. The bills announced a
pone and standard piece: El Embaxador de Si-mismo, written by Lope de
ega.
Among the actresses who came upon the stage, I discovered one of my old
cronies. It was impossible to have forgotten Phenicia, that bouncing good-
humoured girl whom you have seen as Florimonde’s waiting-maid, and have
LAURA'S STORY. 248
supped with more than once at Arsenia’s. I was aware that Phenicia had left
Madrid above two years ago, but had never heard of her turning actress. I
longed so earnestly to embrace her, that the piece appeared quite tedious. Per-
haps, too, there might be some fault in those who played it, as being neither
good enough nor bad enough to afford me entertainment. For as to my own
temper, which is that of seeking diversion wherever I can find it, I must confess
that an actor supremely ridiculous answers my purpose just as well as the most
finished performer of the age.
At last, the moment I had been waiting for being arrived, namely the drop-
ping of the curtain on this favourite and standard piece, we went, for my widow
would go with me, behind the scenes, where we caught a glimpse of Phenicia,
who was playing off the amiable and unaffected simpleton, and listening with
all the primness of studied simplicity to the soft chirping of a young stagefinch,
who had evidently suffered himself to be caught in the birdlime of her pro-
fessional or meretricious talents. No sooner did her eye meet mine, than she
quitted him with a genteel apology, ran up to me with open arms, and lavished
upon me all the demonstrations of strong attachment imaginable. Our express-
ions of joy at this unexpected meeting were indeed reciprocal; but neither
time nor place admitting of any very copious indulgence in the privilege of
asking questions, we adjourned till the following day, with a promise of renew-
ing our mutual inquiries thick and threefold, under the shelter of her friendly
roof.
The pleasure of talking is the inextinguishable passion of woman, coeval with
the act of breathing. I could not get a wink of sleep all night, for the burn-
ing desire of having a grapple with Phenicia, and closing in upon her in the
conflict of curiosity. Witness all the powers who preside over tattling, whether
’ the love of lying in bed, another passion of woman, prevented me from getting
up and flying to my appointment as early as good manners would allow. She
lived with the rest of the company in a large ready-furnished lodging. A female
attendant who met me at entrance, on being requested to shew me Phenicia’s
apartment, led the way up-stairs to a gallery, along which were ranged ten or
twelve small rooms, divided only by partitions of deal boards, and inhabited by
this merry band. My conductress knocked at a door which Phenicia opened ;
for her tongue was cruelly on the fidget to be let loose, as well as my own.
We allowed ourselves no time for the impertinent ceremonies which usually
usher in a visit, but plunged at once into a most furious career of loquacity. It
seemed as if we should have a tight bout together. There were so many in-
terrogatories to be bandied backwards and forwards, that question and answer
rebounded like tennis-balls, only with tenfold velocity.
After having related our adventures each to other, and inquired into the
actual condition of affairs, Phenicia asked me how I meant to provide for
myself. My reply was, that I purposed, while waiting for something better, to
get a situation with some young lady of quality. For shame, exclaimed my
other self, you shall not think of such a thing. Is it possible, my darling, that
you should not yet be disgusted with menial service? Are you not heartily sick
of knocking under to the good or ill pleasure of others, of being cap-in-hand to
all their caprices, and after all to be entertained with that unchangeable tune
called a scolding, in a word, to be a downright slave? Why do not you follow
my example, and turn your thoughts towards the stage? Nothing can be better
suited to —_— of parts, when they happen not to be equally favoured in the
articles of wealth and birth. It is a sphere of life which holds a middle rank
between the nobility and mere tradespeople; a profession exempted from all
troublesome restraint, and raised far above the common prejudices of humble
and decent society. The public are our bankers, and we draw upon them at
246 GIL BLAS.
sight. We live in a continual round of ecstacy, and spend our money to the
full as fast as we earn it.
The theatre (for she went on at a great rate) is favourable above all to
women. When I lived with Florimonde, it is a misery to think of it, I was
reduced to take up with the supernumeraries of the prince’s company; not a
single man of fashion paid the Teast attention to my figure. How came that
about? Because they never got a glimpse of it. The finest picture in the
world may escape the admiration of the connoisseurs, if it is not placed in a
proper light. But since I have been suitably framed and varnished, which
could only happen in consequence of a theatrical finish, what a revolution!
The finest young fellows of all the towns we pass through are shuffling at my
heels. An actress therefore has all her little comforts about her, without de-
viating from the line of her duty. If she is discreet, by which we mean that
she should not admit more than one lover into her good graces at a time, her
exemplary conduct is cried up as without a parallel. She is called a very
Niobe for her coldness ; and ha she changes her favourite, she is reprimanded
as slightly by the world, as a lawful widow who marries a few weeks too soon
after the death of her first husband. If, however, the widow should look for
luck in odd numbers, and take to herself a third, the contempt of all mankind
is poured down on her devoted head; she is considered as a monster of indeli-
cacy; whereas we happier women are so much the more in vogue, as we add
to the list of our favourites. After having been served up to a hundred differ-
ent lovers, some battered nobleman finds us a dainty dish for himself,
Do you mean that by way of news? interrupted I as she uttered the last sen-
timent. Do you imagine me to be ignorant of these advantages? I have often
conned them over in my mind, and they are but too alluring to a girl of my
character. The attractions of the stage would be irresistible, were inclination
all. But some little talent is indispensable; and I have not a spark. I have
sometimes attempted to rehearse passages from plays before Arsenia. She was
never satisfied with my performance; and that disgusted me with the profession.
You are easily put out of conceit with yourself, replied Phenicia. Do not you
know that these great actresses are very apt to be jealous? With all their
vanity, they are afraid lest some newer face should put them out of countenance,
In short, I would not be guided by Arsenia on that subject ; she did not give her
real opinion. In my judgment, and without meaning to flatter you, the theatre is
your natural element. You have admirable powers, free and graceful action, a
fine-toned voice, volubility of declamation, and such a turn of countenance!
Ah! you little rogue! you will bring all the young fellows behind the scenes, if
once you take to the boards!
She plied me with many flattering compliments besides ; and made me recite
some lines, only by way of enabling me to form my own judgment as to my
theatrical genius. Now that she was my censor, it seemed quite another thing.
She praised me up to the skies, and held all the actresses in Madrid as mere
makeweights in the scale. After such a testimony, it would have been inex-
cusable to hesitate about my own merit. Arsenia stood attainted, nay, con-
victed of jealousy and treachery. There could be no question about my being
everything that was delightful. Two players happened to drop in by accident,
and Phenicia prevailed on me to repeat the lines I had already spouted ; th
fell into a sort of enthusiastic trance, whence they were roused only to launc
out fervently in admiration of me. Literally, had they all three been flattering
me up for a wager, they could not have a opted a more extravagant scale of
panegyric. My modesty was not proof against such praise from those who
were themselves praised. I began to think myself really worthy of something ;
and now was my whole heart and soul turned towards a theatrical life,
LAURA'S STORY. 247
Since this is the case, said I to Phenicia, the affair is determined. I will
follow your advice and engage in your company, if they will accept me. My
friend, transported with joy at this proposal, clasped me in her arms ; and her
two companions seemed no less delighted than herself at finding me in that
humour. It was settled that I should attend the theatre on the following day
in the morning, and exhibit before the collected body the same sample of my
talent as I had just displayed. If I had bought golden opinions from Phenicia
and her friends, the actors in general were still more complimentary in their
judgment, after I had recited but twenty lines before them. They gave me an
engagement with the utmost willingness. Then there was nothing thought of
but my first appearance. To make it as striking as possible, I laid out all the
money remaining from the sale of my ring; and though my funds would not
allow of being splendid in my dress, I discovered the art of substituting taste
for glitter, and converting my poverty into a new grace.
At length I came out. What clapping of hands! what general admiration !
It would be speaking faintly, my friend, to tell you downright that the specta-
tors were all in an ecstacy. You must have heard with your own ears what
a noise I made at Seville, to believe it. The whole talk of the town was about
me, and the house was crowded for three weeks successively; so that this
novelty restored the theatre to its popularity, when it was evidently beginning
to decline. Thus did I come upon the stage, and step into public favour at
once. But to come upon the stage with such distinction, is generally a prelude
to coming upon the town; or at least to putting one’s self up at auction to the
best bidder. ‘Twenty sparks of all ages, from seventeen to seventy, were on
the list of candidates, and would have worn me in my newest gloss. Had I
followed my own inclination, I should have chosen the youngest, and the most
of a lady’s man; but in our profession, interest and ambition must bear the
sway, till we have feathered our nest; that is as invariable a rule as any in
the prompt book. On this principle, Don Ambrosio de Nisana, a man in
whom age and ugliness had done their worst, but rich, generous, and one of the
most powerful noblemen in Andalusia, had the refusal of the bargain. It is
true that he paid handsomely for it. He took a fine house for me, furnished
in the extreme of magnificence, allowed me a man cook of the first eminence,
two footmen, a lady’s maid, and a thousand ducats a month for my personal
ne a Add to all this a rich wardrobe, and an elegant assortment of
jewels.
What a revolution in my affairs! My poor brain was completely turned. I
could not believe myself to be the same person. No wonder if girls soon forget
the meanness and misery whence some man of quality has rescued them in a fit
of caprice. My confession shall be without reserve: public applause, flattering
speeches buzzed about on every side, and Don Ambrosio’s passion kindled such
a flame of self-conceit as kept me in a continual ferment of extravagance. I
considered my talents as a patent of nobility. I put on the woman of fashion ;
and becoming as chary as I had hitherto been lavish of my amorous challengers,
determined to look no lower than dukes, counts, or marquises.
My lord of Nisana brought some of his friends to sup with me every evening,
It was my care to invite the best companions among our actresses, and we
wore away a good part of the night in laughing and drinking. I fell in very
kindly with so delicious a life ; but it lasted only six months. Men of rank are
apt to be whimsical; but for that fault, they would be too heavenly. Don
Ambrosio deserted me for a young coquette from Grenada, who had just
brought a pretty person to the Seville market, and knew how to set off her
wares to the best advantage. But I did not fret after him more than four-and-
twenty hours, His place was supplied by a young fellow of two-and-twenty,
»
248 GIL BLAS.
Don Lewis d@’ Alcacer, with whom few Spaniards could vie in point of face
and figure.
You will ask me, doubtless, and it is natural to do so, why I selected so
green a sprig of nobility for my paramour, when my own experience so strongly
, ae te from such a choice. But, besides that Don Lewis had neither father
nor mother, and was already in possession of his fortune, you are to know that
there is no danger of disagreeable consequences pew ae to any but girls in a
servile condition of life, or those unfortunate loose fish who are game for every
sportsman. Ladies of our profession are privileged es we let off our
charms like a rocket, and are not answerable for the damage where they fall ;
so much the worse for those families whose heirs we set in a blaze.
As for Alcacer and myself, we were so strongly attached to one another,
that I verily believe, love never yet did such execution as when he took aim at
us two. Our passion was of such a violent nature, that we seemed to be under
the influence of some spell. Those who knew how well we were together,
thought us the happiest pair in the world ; but we, who knew best, found our-
selves the most miserable. Though Don Lewis had as fine an outside as ever
fell to the lot of man, he was at the same time so jealous, that there was no
living for vexation at his unfounded surmises. It was of no use, knowing his
weakness and humouring it, to lay an embargo on my looks, if ever a male
creature peeped into harbour; his suspicious temper, seldom at a loss for
some crime to impute, rendered my armed neutrality of no avail. Our most
tender moments had always a spice of wrangling. There was no standing the
brunt of it; patience could hold out no longer on either side, and we quarrelled
more peaceably than we had loved. Could you believe that the last day of our
being together was the happiest? both equally wearied out by the perpetual
recurrence of unpleasant circumstances, we gave a loose to our transports when
we embraced for the last time. We were like two wretched captives, breath-
ing the fresh air of liberty after all the horrors of our prison-house.
Since that adventure, I have worn a breastplate against the little archer. No
more amorous nonsense for me, at least to a'troublesome excess! It is quite
out of our line, to sigh and complain like Arcadian shepherdesses. Those
should never give way to a passion in private, who hold it up to ridicule before
the public.
While these events were passing in my domestic establishment, Fame had
not hung her trumpet breathless on the willows; she spread it about universally
that I was an inimitable actress. That celestial tattler, though bankrupt times
out of number, still contrives to revive her credit ; the comedians of Grenada
therefore wrote to offer me an engagement in their company; and by way of
evidence that the proposal was not to be scorned, they sent me a statement of
their daily receipts and disbursements, with their terms, which seemed to be
advantageous. ‘That being the case, I closed, though grieved in my heart to
part with Phenicia and Dorothea, whom I loved as well as woman is capable
of loving woman. I left the first laudably employed in melting the plate of a
little haggling goldsmith, whose vanity so far got the better of his avarice that
he must needs have a theatrical heroine for his mistress. I forgot to tell you that
on my translation to the stage, from mere whim, I changed the name of Laura to
that of Estella; and it was under the latter name that I took this engagement
at Grenada.
My first appearance was no less successful here than at Seville ; and I soon ©
felt myself wafted along by the sighs of my admirers. But resolving not to
favour any except on honourable terms, I kept a guard of modesty in my inter-
course with them, which threw dust in their eyes. Nevertheless, not to be the
dupe of virtues which pay very indifferently, and were not exactly at home in
GIL BLAS GOES TO THE MARQUIS DE MARIALVA’S. 249
their new mansion, I was balancing whether or not to take up with a young
fellow of mean extraction, who had a place under government, and assumed the
style of a gentleman in virtue of his office, with a good table and handsome
equipage, when I saw the Marquis de Marialva for the first time. This Portu-
guese nobleman, travelling over Spain from mere curiosity, stopped at Grenada
as he passed through it. He came to the play. I did not perform that even-
ing. His examination of the actresses was very particular, and he found one
to his liking. Their acquaintance commenced on the very next day; and the
definitive treaty was very nearly concluded when I appeared upon the stage.
What with some personal graces, and no little affectation in setting them off,
the weather-cock veered about all on a sudden ; my Portuguese was mine and
mine only till death do us part. Yet, since the truth must be told, I knew per-
fectly that my sister of the sock and buskin had entrapped this nobleman, and
spared no pains to chouse her out of her prize; to my success you are yourself a
witness. She bears me no small grudge on that account ; but the thing could
not be avoided. She ought to reflect that it is the way ofall female flesh ; that
... the dearest friends play off the same trick upon one another, and put a good
face upon it into the bargain.
Cu. VIII.— The reception of Gil Blas among the players at Grenada ; and an-
other old acquaintance picked up in the green-room.
Just as Laura was finishing her story, there came in an old actress who lived
in her neighbourhood, and was come to take her to the theatre as she passed
by. This venerable tutelary of the stage was admirably fitted to play some
superannuated strumpet among the heathen goddesses in a pantomime. My
sister was not remiss in introducing her brother to that stale old harridan,
whereupon a profusion of compliments were bandied about on both sides.
I left them together, telling the steward’s relict that I would join her again
at the playhouse, as soon as I had sent my baggage to the Marquis de Marial-
va’s, to whose residence she directed me. First I went to the roomI had hired,
whence, after having settled with my landlady, I repaired with a porter who
carried my luggage to a large ready-furnished house, where my new master
was quartered. At the door I met his steward, who asked me if I was not
the lady Estella’s brother. I answered in the affirmative. Then you are wel-
come, Signor cavalier, replied he. The Marquisde Marialva, whose steward I
have the honour to be, has commissioned me to receive you properly. There
is a room got ready for you ; I will shew you the way to it, if you please, that
you may be quite at home. He took me up to the top of the house, and thrust
me into so small a room, that a very narrow bed, a chest of drawers, and two
chairs completely filled it. This was my apartment. You will not have much
spare room, said my conductor, but as a set-off, I promise you that you shall
be superbly lodged at Lisbon. I locked up my portmanteau in the wardrobe
and put the key in my pocket, asking at the same time what was the hour of
supper. The answer was, that his lordship seldom supped at home, but allow-
ed each servant a monthly sum for board wages. I put several other questions,
and learnt that the Marquis’s people were a happy set of idle fellows. After a
conversation short and sweet, I left the steward to go and look for Laura, re-
flecting much to my own satisfaction on the happy omens I drew from the open-
ing of my new situation.
As soon as I got to the playhouse door, and mentioned my name as Estella’s
brother, there was free admission at once. You might have observed the for-
wardness of the guards to make way for me, just as if I had been one of the most
considerable noblemen in Grenada, All the supernumeraries, door-keepers, and
250 GIL BLAS.
receivers of checks whom I encountered in my progress, made me their very
best bows. But what I should like best to give the reader an idea of, is the
serious reception which the merry vagrants gave me in the green-room, where
I found the whole dramatis personz ready dressed, and on the point of drawing
up the curtain. The actors and actresses, to whom Laura introduced me, fell
upon me without mercy. The men were quite troublesome with their greetings ;
and the women, not to be outdone, laid their plastered faces alongside of mine,
till they covered it with a villanous compound of red and white. No one
choosing to be the last in making me welcome, they all paid their compliments
in a breath. olus himself, answering from all the points of the compass at
once, would not have been a match for them: but my sister was ; for the loan
of her tongue was always at the service of a friend, and she brought me com-
pletely out of debt.
But I did not get clear off with the squeezes of the principal performers. The
civilities of the scene-painters, the band, the prompter, the candle-snuffer, and
the call-boy were to be endured with patience ; all the understrappers in the
theatre came to see me run the gauntlet. One would have supposed one’s self
in a foundling hospital, and that they had none of them ever known what sort
of animals brothers and sisters were.
In the mean time the play began. Some gentlemen who were behind the
scenes, then ran to get seats in the front of the house ; for my pert. feeling my-
self quite at home, I continued in conversation with those of the actors who
' were waiting to goon. Among the number there was one whom they called Mel-
chior, The name struck me. I looked hard at the person who answered to
it, and thought I had seen him somewhere. At last I recollected that it was
Melchior Zapata, a poor strolling player, who has been described in the first
volume of this true history, as soaking his crusts in the pure element.
I immediately took him aside, and said: I am much mistaken if you are not
that Signor Melchior with whom I had the honour of breakfasting one day by
the margin of a clear fountain, between Valladolid and Segovia. I was with a
journeyman barber. We had some provisions with us which we clubbed with
yours, and all three partook of a little rural feast, to which wit and anecdote
gave additional relish. Zapata bethought him for a minute or two, and then
answered: You tell me of a circumstance which often since came across my
mind. I had then just been trying my fortune at Madrid, and was returning to
Zamora. I recollect perfectly that my affairs were a little out at elbows. I
recollect it too, replied I, by the token of a doublet which you wore, lined with
play-bills. Neither have I forgotten that you complained of having a wife
cursed with incorruptible chastity. Oh! that misfortune has found its remedy
long ago, said Zapata, shaking his ears, By all the powers of womanhood, the
jade has effectually reformed that virtue, and given me a warmer lining to my
doublet.
I was going to congratulate him on his wife’s having shewn so much sense,
when he was obliged to leave me and go on the stage. Being curious to know
what sort of an animal his wife was, I went up to an actor and desired him to
point her out. He did so, saying at the same time: There she is, it is Nar-
cissa ; the prettiest of all our women except your sister. I concluded that this
must be the actress in whose favour the Marquis de Marialva had declared be-
fore meeting with his Estella ; and my conjecture was but too correct. After
the play I attended Laura home, where I saw several cooks preparing a hand-
some entertainment. You may sup here, said she. I will do no such thing,
answered I ; the marquis perhaps will like to be alone with you. Notatall, re-
plied she ; he is coming with two of his own friends and one of our gentlemen ;
you will just make the siath. You know that in our free and easy way there
AN EXTRAORDINARY COMPANION AT SUPPER. 251
is no impropriety in secretaries sitting down at table with their masters. Very
true, said I : but it is rather too soon to assume the privilege of a favourite. I
must first get employed in some confidential commission, and then lay in my
claim to that honourable distinction. Judging it to be so best, I went out of
Laura’s house, and got back to my inn, whither I reckoned on repairing every
day, since my master had no regular establishment.
Cu. 1X.—Azx extraordinary companion at supper ; and an account of their
conversation.
I REMARKED in the coffee-room a sort of an old monk, habited in coarse grey
cloth, at supper quite alone ina corner. I went and sat opposite to him out of
curiosity ; we exchanged a civil bow, and he shewed himself to be quite as well
bred as I was, notwithstanding my lay education. My commons were brought
me, and I fell to with a very catholic appetite. While I was eating, my tongue
was mute, but my eyes glanced by snatches towards this singular character, and
always caught his at the same employment. Liking better to stare than be
stared at, I addressed my speech to him thus: Pray, father, have we ever by
any chance met anywhere but here? You peer at me as if you scarcely knew
whether I wasan acquaintance or astranger. Heanswered gravely: If I look
at you with fixed attention, it is only to admire the prodigious variety of adven-
tures which are chronicled in the features of your face. It should seem, said I
in a joking tone, as if your reverence was something of a physiognomist. Far
more deeply imbued in science than a mere physiognomist, answered the monk,
I found prophecies on my observations which have never been belied by the
event. My skill in palmistry is no less, and I will set my oracles against the
roi of antiquity, after comparing the inspection of the hand with that of the
ace,
Though this old man had all the appearance of profound wisdom, his talk
was so like that of a madman, that I could not help laughing at him out-right.
So far from being offended at my want of manners, he smiled at it, and went
on to the following effect, after ramning his eye round the coffee-room, to be
assured that there were no listeners : I am not surprised at finding you so pre-
judiced against two sciences which pass at this time of day for mere frivolity ;
the long and painful study they require disheartens the learned, who turn their
backs upon them, and then swear that they are fables out of disgust at having
missed their attainment. For my part, I am not to be frightened by the dark-
ness which envelopes them, any more than by the difficulties which are per-
petual stumbling-blocks in the pursuit of chemical discoveries, and in the mar-
vellous art of transmuting baser metals into gold.
But I do flatter myself, pursued he, looking steadfastly at me, that I am
addressing a young gentleman of good sense, to whom my systems will not
appear altogether in the light of idle dreams. A sample of my skill will dis-
pose you better than the most subtle arguments to pass a favourable judgment
on my pretensions. After talking in this manner he drew from his pocket a
phial full of a lively-looking red liquor, on which he expatiated thus: Here
is an elixir which I have distilled this morning ‘40m the juices of certain plants;
for I have employed almost my whole life, like Democritus, in finding out the
properties of simples and minerals. You shall make trial of its virtue. The
wine we are drinking with our supper is very bad; henceforth it will become
excellent. At the same time he put two drops of his elixir into my bottle,
which made my wine more delicious than the choicest vintages of Spain.
The marvellous strikes the imagination; and when once that faculty is en-
listed, judgment is turned adrift, Delighted with so glorious a, secret, and per-
252 GIL BLAS.
suaded that he must have out-deviled the devil before he could have got at it, I
cried out in a paroxysm of admiration: O reverend father! prythee forgive your
servant if he took you at first for an old blockhead. I now abjure my error.
There is no need to look further to be assured that it depends only on your own
will to turn an iron bar into a wedge of gold in the twinkling of an eye. How
happy should I be were I master of that admirable science! Heaven preserve
you from ever acquiring it, interrupted the old man with a deep sigh. You
know not, my son, what a fatal possession you covet. Instead of envying,
rather pity me, for having taken such infinite pains to be made unhappy. I
am always disturbed in mind. I fear a oa and then perpetual im-
prisonment would be the reward of all my labours. In this apprehension, I lead
a vagabond life, sometimes disguised as a priest or monk, sometimes as a gentle-
man or a peasant. Where is the benefit of knowing how to manufacture gold
on such terms? Are not the goods of this world downright misery to those
who cannot enjoy them in tranquillity ?
What you say appears to me very sensible, said I to the philosopher. There
is nothing like living at one’s ease. You have rid me of all hankering after the
philosopher’s stone. I will rest satisfied with learning from you my future
destiny. With all my heart, my good lad, answered he. I have already made
my remarks upon your features; now let me see your hand. I gave it him with
a confidence which will do my penetration but little credit in the esteem of some
readers. He examined it very attentively, and then pronounced, as in a rapture
of inspiration: Ah! what transitions from pain to pleasure, and from pleasure
to pain! What a whimsical alternation of good and evil chances! But you
have already experienced the largest share of your allotted reverses. You have
but few more tides of misfortune to stem, and then a great lord will contrive fo
you an eligible fate, which shall not be subject to change.
After having assured me that I might depend on his prediction, he bade me
farewell and went out of the inn, leaving me in deep meditation on the things I
had just heard. There could be no doubt of the Marquis de Marialva being
the great lord in question ; and consequently nothing appeared more within the
verge of possibility than the accomplishment of the oracle. But though there
had not been the slightest likelihood, that would have been no hindrance to
giving the impostor monk unbounded credit, since his elixir had transmuted my
sour incredulity into the most tractable digestion of his falsehoods. That
nothing might be wanting on my side to play into the hands of my foreboded
luck, I determined to attach myself more closely to the marquis than I had ever
done to any of my masters. Having taken this resolution, I went home in un-
usually high spirits ; never did foolish woman descend in better humour from the
garret of another foolish woman who had told her fortune.
Cu, X.— The Marquis de Marialva gives a commission to Gil Blas. That
Saithful secretary acquits himself of it as shall be related.
THE marquis was not yet returned from his theatrical party, and I found his
upper servants playing at cards in his apartment while they were waiting for his
arrival. I got to be sociable with them ; and we amused ourselves with jocular
conversation till two o’clock in the morning, when our master arrived. He was
a little surprised at seeing me, and said with an air of kindness which made me
conclude that he came home very well satisfied with his evening : How is this,
Gil Blas? Are you not gone to bed yet? I answered that I wished to know
first whether he any commands forme. Probably, replied he, I may have
a commission to give you to-morrow morning; but it will be time enough then
to acquaint you with my wishes. Go to your own room; and henceforward re-
GIL BLAS’ REFLECTIONS UPON HIS CONDUCT. 253
member that I dispense with your attendance at bed-time; my other servants
are sufficient for that occasion.
After this hint, which was much to my satisfaction in the main, since it spared
me a slavery which I should have felt very unpleasantly at times, I left the
marquis in his apartment, and withdrew to my garret. I went to bed. Not
being able to sleep, it seemed good to follow the counsel of Pythagoras, and to
examine all the actions of the day by the test of reason ; to reprimand severely
what had been done amiss, and if anything had been done well, to rejoice in it.
On looking into the day-book of my conscience, the balance was not suf-
ficiently in my favour to keep me in good humour with myself. I felt remorse
at having lent myself to Laura’s imposition. It was in vain to urge, in self-
defence, that I could not, with any decency, give the lie toa girl who had no
object in view but to do me a pleasure, and that I was in some sort under the ne-
cessity of becoming an accomplice in the fraud, This was a paltry excuse in
the darkness of the night, for I pleaded against myself that at all events the
matter should be pushed no further, and that it was the summit of impudence to
remain upon the establishment of a nobleman whose confidence I so ill repaid.
In short, after a severe trial, it was agreed in my own breast, that I was very
little short of an arrant knave.
But to have done with the morality of the act, and pass on to the probable
issue, it was evidently playing a desperate game, to cozen a man of consequence
who might be enabled, as an instrument for the visitation of my sins perhaps, to
detect the imposture in its very infancy. A reflection at once so prudent and
so virtuous acted as a refrigerator on my spirits; but visions of pleasure and of
interest soon raised them again above the freezing point. Besides, the prophecy
of the man with the elixir would have been enough to put me in heart once
more. I therefore gave myself up to the indulgence of the most agreeable
fancies. All the rules of arithmetic from simple addition to compound in-
terest were set in array, to cast up what sum my salary would amount to at
the end of ten years’ service. Then there was a large allowance for presents
and gratuities from my master, whose liberal disposition according admirably
with my liberal desires, my imagination grew quite fantastical, and extended the
landmarks of my fortune over innumerable acres of unsubstantial territory.
Sleep overtook me in the calculation, and raised a magnificent aérial mansion
on the estate where a new race of grandees was to originate.
I got up the next morning about eight o’clock to go and receive my patron’s
orders; but as I was opening my door to go out, what was my surprise at
meeting him in his wrapping-gown and night-cap. He was quite alone. Gil
Blas, said he, on parting with your sister last night, I promised to pass this
morning with her; but an affair of consequence will not admit of my keeping
my word. Go and assure her from me that I am deeply mortified at the dis-
appointment, but that I shall certainly sup with her to-night. That is not all,
added he, putting a purse into my hands and a little shagreen case set round
with diamonds; carry her my portrait, and keep this purse of fifty pistoles,
which I give you as a mark of my early-conceived friendship. I took the pic-
ture in one hand, and in the other the purse to which I was so little entitled.
I put my best leg foremost in my way to Laura, muttering to myself in the
transports of excessive joy: Good! the prophecy is accomplished in the twink-
ling of aneye. What a windfall to be the brother of a girl so full of beauty
and attraction! It is a pity the credit attached to the relationship. is not com-
meénsurate with the lucre and the comfort.
Laura, unlike most women in her profession, had a habit of early rising. I
caught her at her toilette, where, while waiting for her illustrious foreigner, she
was engrafting on her natural beauty all the adventitious charms which the
254 GIL BLAS.
cosmetic art could supply. Lovely Estella, said I, on accosting her, thou
absolute loadstone of the tramontanes, I may now sit down at table with my
master, since he has honoured me with a commission which gives me that pre-
rogative, and which I am just come to fulfil, He cannot have the pleasure of
waiting on you this morning, as he had purposed; but to make you amends for
the disappointment, he will sup here this evening, and sends you his picture;
which to all appearance is enclosed in something more valuable than itself.
I put the box into her hand at once; and the lively sparkling of the brilliants
which encompassed it made her eyes sparkle and her mouth water. She
opened it out of mere curiosity, looked carelessly at the painting as people per-
form a duty for which they have little relish, then shut it, and once more fell
greedily on the jewellery. Their beauty made her eloquent; and she said to
me with the smile of a satirist—-These are copies which those mercenary things
called actresses value much more highly than originals.
I next acquainted her that the generous Portuguese, when giving me charge
of the portrait, recommended it to my care by a purse of fifty pistoles. I beg
you will accept of my congratulations, said she; this nobleman begins where it
is even uncommon for others to leave off. It is to you, my divine creature,
answered I, that this present is owing; the marquis only made it on the score
of natural affection. I could be well pleased, replied she, that he were to
make you a score such presents every day. I cannot express in what extrava-
gance you are dear tome. From the first moment of our meeting, I became
attached to you by so strong a tie, as time has not been able to dissolve. When
I lost you at Madrid, I did not despair of finding you again; and yesterday, on
your sudden appearance, I received you like a deodand. In a word, my friend,
heaven has created us for one another. You shall be my husband, but we
must get plenty of money in the first instance. I shall just lend myself out.to
three or four silly fellows more, and then you may live like a gentleman on
your means.
I thanked her in the most appropriate terms for such an instance of extreme
condescension on my behalf, and we got insensibly into a conversation which
lasted till noon. At that hour I withdrew, to go and give my master an
account of the manner in which his present was received. Though Laura had
given me no instructions thereupon, I was not remiss in composing a fine com-
pliment on my way, with which I meant to launch out on her part; but it was
just so much flash inthe pan, For, when I got home the marquis was gone
out; and the fates had decreed that I should never see him more, for reasons
which will be methodically stated in the succeeding chapter. .
Cu. XI.—A thunderbolt to Gil Blas,
I REPAIRED to my inn, where meeting with two men of companionable talents,
I dined and sat at table with them till the play began. We parted; they as
their business and desire pointed them; and, for my own part, my bent was
towards the theatre. It may be proper to observe by the way, that I had all
possible reason to be in a good ele all The conversation with my chance
companions had been joyous in the extreme; the colour of my fortune was gay
and animating; yet for all that I could not help giving way to melancholy,
without either knowing why, or being able to reason myself out of it. It was
doubtless a prophetic warning of the misfortune which threatened me.
As I entered the green-room, Melchior Zapata came up, and told me in a low
voice to follow him. He led me to an unfrequented part of the house, and
opened his business thus—Worthy sir, I make it a point of conscience to give
you a very serious warning. You are aware that the Marquis de Marialva
A THUNDERBOLT TO GIL BLAS. 255
at first taken a fancy to Narcissa, my wife; he had even gone so far as to fix a
day for trying the relish of my rib, when that cockatrice Estella contrived to
flyblow the bill of fare, and transfer the banquet to her own untainted charms.
Judge then, whether an actress can be gulled instead of gulling, and preserve
the sweetness of her temper. My wife has taken it deeply to heart, and there
is no species of revenge to which she would not have recourse. A fine oppor-
tunity has offered. Yesterday, if you recollect, all our supernumeraries were
crowding together to see you. The deputy candle-snuffer told some of the in-
ferior comedians that he recollected you perfectly well, and that you might be
anything but Estella’s brother.
This report, added Melchior, came to Narcissa’s ears to-day: she lost no time
in questioning the author; and that grub of the interior stood to the whole
story. He says that he knew you as Arsenia’s servant, when Estella waited on
her at Madrid under the name of Laura. My wife, full of gleeat this discovery,
means to acquaint the Marquis de Marialva with it, when he comes to the play
this evening; so take your measures accordingly. If you are not Estella’s
brother in good earnest, I would advise you as a friend, and on the score of
old acquaintance, to make your escape while your skin is whole. WNarcissa,
satisfied in her tender mercy with only one victim, and that of her own sex, has
allowed me to give you this notice, that you may outrun your ill luck.
It would have been waste of words to press the subject farther. I returned
thanks for the caution to this fretter of his hour, who saw by my terrified aspect
that I was not the man to give the deputy candle-snuffer the lie. I did not feel
the least temptation to carry my dangerous valour such a length. I had not even
the heart to go and bid farewell to Laura, for fear she should insist on me
keeping up the farce. I could easily conceive that so excellent an actress
might get out of the scrape with flying colours; but there seemed to be nothing
for me short of a swinging castigation; and I was not so far gone in love as to
stand by my sweetheart at the risk of my own person. I thought of nothing
but a precipitate retreat with my household gods, or rather goods, if such a
trumpery collection of individual property might be called so, I disappeared
from the playhouse in the twinkling of an eye; and in less time than it would
have taken to confess my sins, was my portmanteau carried off and safely
lodged with a muleteer who was to set out for Toledo at three o’clock next morn-
ing. I could have wished myself already with the Count de Polan, whose
hospitable roof seemed my only safe asylum. But I was not there yet; and it
was impossible to think without dread of the time remaining to be passed in a
one where I was afraid they would hunt me out without giving me a night’s
aw.
The smell of supper drew me to my inn notwithstanding; though I was as
uneasy as a debtor who knows that a writ is out against him. My stomach, I
believe, was not sufficiently well knit that evening for my supper to play its
part as it should do. The miserable sport of fear, I watched all the people who
came into the coffee-room, and whenever by chance they carried a gallows in
their physiognomy, which is no uncommon ensign in such places of resort, I
shuddered with horrid forebodings. After having supped the supper of the
damned, I got up from table and returned to my carrier’s house, where I threw
myself on some clean straw till it was time to set out.
My patience was well tried during that interval; for a thousand unpleasant
thoughts attacked me in all directions. If I dozed now and then, the enraged
marquis stood before me, pounding Laura’s fair face to a jelly with his fist,
and turning her whole house out at window; or to come nearer home, I heard
him giving directions for my death under the operation of a cudgel. At sucha
vision I started out of my sleep, and waking, which is usually so pleasant after a
256 GIL BLAS.
frightful dream, inspired me with more horror than even the fictions of my en-
tranced te
Happily the muleteer delivered me from so dire a purgatory, by coming to
acquaint me that his mules were ready. I was immediately on my legs, and
set out radically cured, for which heaven has my best thanks, of Laura and the
occult sciences. As we got farther from Grenada, my mind recovered its tone.
I began chatting with the muleteer, laughed at his droll stories, and insensibly
lost all my apprehensions. I slept undisturbed at Ubeda, where we lay the first
night, and on the fourth day we got to Toledo. My first care was to inform
myself of the Count de Polan’s residence, whither I repaired under the full per-
suasion that he would not suffer me to lodge elsewhere. But I reckoned with-
out my host. There was no one at home but a person to take care of the
house, who told me that his master was just gone to the castle of Leyva, having
been sent for on account of Seraphina’s dangerous illness.
The count’s absence was altogether unexpected: here was no longer any in-
ducement to stay at Toledo, and all my plans were changed at once. Finding
myself so near Madrid, I resolved to go thither. It came into my head that
I might make my way at court, where talents of the first order, as 1 had heard,
were not absolutely necessary to fill situations of the first consequence. On the
very next morning I took advantage of back carriage, to be set down in the
renowned capital of Spain. Fortune took me kindly by the hand, and intro-
duced me to a higher cast of parts than those I had hitherto filled.
Cu. XII.— Gil Blas takes lodgings in a ready-furnished house. He gets ac-
guainted with Captain Chinchilla. That officers character and business at
Madrid.
ON my first arrival at Madrid, I fixed my head-quarters in a lodging-house,
where resided, among other persons, an old captain, who was come from the
distant part of New Castile, to solicit a pension at court, and he thought his
claims but too well founded. His name was Don Annibal de Chinchi It
was not without much staring that I saw him for the first time. He was a man
about sixty, of gigantic stature, and of anatomical leanness. His whiskers were
like brushwood, fencing off the two sides of his face as high as his temples.
Besides that, he was short in his reckoning by an arm and a leg, there was a
vacancy for an eye, which Polypheme would have supplied as he did, had
patches of green silk been then in the fashion; and his features were hacked
sufficiently to illustrate a treatise of geometry. With these exceptions, his con-
figuration was much like that of another man. As to his mental qualities, he
was not altogether without understanding; and what he wanted in quickness
he made up by gravity. His principles were rigid in the extreme; and it was
his particular boast to be delicate on the point of honour.
After two or three interviews, he distinguished me by his confidence. I soon
got into all his personal history: he related on what occasions he had left an
eye at Naples, an arm in Lombardy, and a leg in the Low Countries. The
most admirable circumstance in all his narratives of battles and sieges, was, that
not a single feature of the swaggerer peeped out; not a word escaped him to
his own honour and glory; though one could readily have forgiven him for
making some little display of the half which was still extant of himself, as a
set-off against the dilapidations which had deducted so largely from the usual
contexture of a man. Officers who return from their campaigns without a
scratch upon their skin or a love-lock out of place, are not always so humble
in their pretensions.
But he told me that what gave him most uneasiness was, the having wasted -
CHARACTER OF CAPTAIN CHINCHILLA. 257
a considerable portion of his private fortune on military objects, so that he had
not more than a hundred ducats a year left; a poor establishment for such a
pair of whiskers, a gentleman’s lodging, and an amanuensis to multiply memo-
rials by wholesale. For in point of fact, my worthy friend, added he, shrug-
ging his shoulders, I present one, with a blessing on my endeavours, every day,
and the last meets with the same attention as the first. You would say that it
was an even bet between the prime minister and me, which of us two shall be
tired first; the memorialist or the receiver of the memorials. I have often
had the honour, too, of addressing the king on the same subject; but the rector
and his curate say grace in the same key; and in the mean time, my castle of
Chinchilla is falling to ruin for want of necessary repairs.
Faint heart never won fair lady, said I most wisely to the captain; you are
perhaps on the eve of finding all your marches and countermarches repaid with
usury. I must uot flatter myself with that pleasing expectation, answered Don
Annibal. It is put three days since I spoke to one of the minister’s secretaries ;
and if I am to trust his representations, I have only to hold up my head and
look big. What then did he say to you? replied I. Had those poor dumb
mouths your wounds no eloquence, to wring a hireling pittance for their profuse
expense of blood? You shall judge for yourself, resumed Chinchilla. This
secretary told me in good plain terms: My honest friend, you need not boast
so much of your zeal and your fidelity ; you have only done your duty in ex-
posing yourself to danger for your country. Naked glory is the true and hon-
ourable recompense of gallant actions, and as such is the prize at which a
Spaniard aims. You therefore argue on false principles, if you consider the
bounty you solicit asa debt. In case it should be granted, you will owe that
favour exclusively to the royal goodness, which in its extreme condescension
requites those of its subjects who have served the state valiantly. Thus you
see, pursued the captain, that if I had a hundred lives they are all pledged, and
that I am likely to go back as hungry as I came.
A brave man in distress is the most touching object in this world. I ex-
horted him to stick close, and offered to write his memorials out fair for nothing.
I even went so far as to open my purse to him, and to beg it as a favour that he
would draw upon me for whatever he wanted. But he was not one of those
folks who never wait to be asked twice on such occasions. So much the re-
verse, that with a commendable delicacy on the subject, he thanked me for my
kindness, but refused it peremptorily. He afterwards told me that, for fear of
spunging upon any one, he had accustomed himself, by little and little, to
live with such sobriety, that the smallest quantity of food was sufficient for his
subsistence ; which was but too true. His daily fare was confined to vegetables,
by dint whereof his component parts were confined to skin and bone. That
he might have no witnesses how ill he dined, he usually shut himself up in his
chamber at that meal. I prevailed so far with him, however, by repeated en-
treaties, as to obtain that we should dine and sup together: then, undermining
his pride by little indirect artifices of compassion, I ordered more provision and
wine than I could consume to my own share. I pressed him to eat and drink.
At first he made difficulties about it; but in the end there was no resisting my
hospitality. After a time, his modesty becoming fainter as his diet was more
flush, he helped me off with my dinner and lightened my bottle almost without.
asking.
One day, after four or fve glasses, when his stomach had renewed its inti-
macy with a more generous system of feeding, he said to me with an air of
gaiety: Upon my word, Signor Gil Blas, you have very winning ways with
you; you make me do just whatever you please. There is something so hearty in
your welcome as to relieve me from all fear of trespassing on your generous
258 GIL BLAS.
temper. My captain seemed at that moment so entirely to have got rid of his
bashfulness, that if I had been in the humour to have seized the lucky moment,
and to have pressed my purse once more on his acceptance, I am much mistaken
if he would have refused it. I did not put him to the trial; but rested satisfied
with having made him my messmate, and taken the trouble not only to copy
out his memorials, but to assist him in their composition, By dint of having
written homilies out fair, I had learnt the knack of phraseology, and was
become a sort of author. The old officer on his side had some little vanity
about writing well. Both of us thus contending for the prize, the bursts of
eloquence would have done honour to the most celebrated professors of Sala-
manca. But it was in vain that we sat on ee sides of the table, and
drained our genius to the very dregs, to nourish the flowers of rhetoric in these
memorials ; you might as well have planted an orange-grove on the sea-beach.
In whatever new light we placed Don Annibal’s services, it was all the same at
court, the connoisseurs were decided about their merit; so that the battered
veteran had no reason to sing the praises of that spirit which leads officers on
to spend their family estates in the service. In the virulence of his spleen he
cursed the planet under which he was born, and sent Naples, Lombardy, and
the Low Countries to the devil.
That his mortification might be pressed down and running over, it happened
to his face one day that a poet, introduced by the Duke of Alva, having recited
a sonnet before the king on the birth of an infanta, was gratified with a pension
of five hundred ducats. I believe the lop-limbed captain would have gone
raving mad at it, if I had not taken some pains to recompense his spirit.
What is the matter with you? said I, seeing him quite beside himself. ere
is nothing in all this which ought to go so terribly against the grain, Ever since
Mount Parnassus swelled above the subject plain, have not poets pleaded the
privilege of laying princes under contribution to their muse? There is not a
crowned head in Christendom that has not substituted a pensioned laureate for
the household fool of less refined times, And between ourselves, this species
of patronage, for the most part galloping down full drive to posterity on the
saddle of Pegasus, raises a hue and cry in honour of royal munificence; but
bounty to persons who are lost in a crowd, however deserving, adds nothing to
the bulk or stature of posthumous renown. Augustus must have drained his
treasury by gratuities, and yet how few of the names on his pension-list have
come down to us! But distant ages shall be informed, as we are, in all the
hyperbole of poetic diction, that his benefits descended on Virgil like the rain
from heaven, whose drops arithmetic has no combinations to count, no princi-
ples by which to reason on their number.
But let me talk ever so classically to Don Annibal, there was a confounded
acidity in that sonnet which curdled all the milky ingredients of his moral com-
position ; it was impossible to chew, swallow, and digest such food with human
organs ; and he was fully determined to give the matter upat once. It seemed
right, nevertheless, by way of playing for his last stake, to present one more
memorial to the Duke of Lerma, and if that failed there was an end of the game.
For this purpose we went together to the prime minister’s, There we met a
young man who, after saluting the captain, said to him in a tone of affection :
My old and dear master, is it your own self that I see? What business brings
you to this mart of favour ? td you have occasion for any one to speak a good
word for you, do not spare my lungs ; they are entirely at your service. How
is this, Pedrillo? answered the officer ; to hear you talk it should seem as if you
held some important post in this house. At least, replied the young man, I
have influence enough here to put an honest rustic like you into the right train.
That being the case, resumed the captain with a smile, I place myself under
DON ANNIBAL MEETS WITH PEDRILLO. 259
your protection. I accept the pledge, rejoined Pedrillo. You have only to ac-
quaint me with your particular taste, and I engage to give you a savoury slice
out of the ministerial pasty.
We had no sooner opened our minds to this young fellow, so full of kind as-
surances, than he inquired where Don Annibal resided ; then, promising that
we should hear from him on the following day, he vanished without informing
us what he meant to do, or even telling us whether he belonged to the Duke of
Lerma’s household. I was curious to know what this Pedrillo was, whose turn
of mind appeared to beso brisk andactive. He isa brave lad, said the captain,
who waited on me some years ago, but finding me out at elbows, went away in
search of a better service. ‘There was no offence to me in all that ; it is very
natural to change when one cannot be worse off. The creature is pleasant
enough, not deficient in parts, and happy in a spirit of intrigue which would
wheedle with the devil. But notwithstanding all his fine pretence, I am not
sanguine in my reckoning on the zeal he has just testified forme. Perhaps,
said I, there may be some plausibility in his designs. Should he be a retainer,
for example, to any of the duke’s principal officers, it will be in his power to
serve you. You have lived too long in the world not to know that in great
houses everything is done by party and cabal ; that the masters are governed by
two or three upper servants about their persons, who, in their turn, are governed
by that multitude of menials attendant upon them.
On the next morning we saw Pedrillo at our breakfast table. Gentlemen,
said he, if I did not explain myself yesterday as to my means of serving Captain
Chinchilla, it was because we were not in a place where such a communication
could be made with safety. Besides, I was disposed to ascertain whether the
thing was feasible, before you were made parties init. Understand, then, that
I am the confidential servant of Signor Don Rodrigo de Calderona, the Duke
of Lerma’s first secretary. My master, who is much addicted to women, goes
almost every evening to sup with a little Arragonian nightingale, whom he keeps
in a cage near the purlieus of the court. She is quite a young girl from Al-
barazin, a most lovely creature. She has some wit as well as beauty, and sings
enchantingly ; they call her the Spanish Syren. Iam the bearer of some ten-
der inquiries every morning, and am just come from her. I have proposed to
her to pass off Signor Don Annibal for her uncle, and the object of the forgery
is to engage her lover in his interests. She is very willing to lend her aid in
the business. Besides some little commission to which she looks forward on
the profits, it will tickle her vanity to be taken for the niece of a military man.
Signor de Chinchilla looked very grim at this suggestion. He declared his
extreme abhorrence of becoming a party concerned in a mere swindling trick,
and still more of adopting a female adventurer, no better than she should be,
into his family, and thus casting a stain upon itsimmaculate purity. It was not
only for himself that he felt all this soreness ; there was a recoil of ignominy
on his ancestors, which would lay their honours level with the dust. This
morbid delicacy seemed out of season to Pedrillo, who could not help express-
ing his contempt of it thus. You must surely be out of your wits to take the
matter up on that footing. A fine market you bring your morals to, you dic-
tators from the plough, with your ridiculous squeamishness! Now you seem
a good sensible man, appealing to me as he spoke these last words. Can you
believe your ears when you hear such scruples advanced? Heaven defend us!
At court, of all the places in the world, to look at morals through a microscope!
Let fortune come under what haggard form she may, they hug her in their arms,
and swear she is a beauty.
My way of thinking was precisely with Pedrillo ; and we dinned it so stoutly
into both the captain’s ears, as to make him the Spanish Syren’s uncle against
*
260 GIL BLAS.
nature and inclination. When we had so far prevailed over his pride, we all
three set about drawing up a new memorial for the minister, which was revised,
with a copious interlacing of additions and corrections. I then wrote it out
fair, and Pedrillo carried it to the Arragonian chauntress, who that very even-
ing put it into the hands of Signor Don Rodrigo, telling her story so artlessly
that the secretary, really supposing her the captain’s niece, promised to
take up his case. <A few days afterwards we reaped the fruits of our little pro-
ject. Pedrillo came back to our house with the lofty air of a benefactor. Good
news, said he to Chinchilla, The king is going tomakea new t of officers,
places, and pensions ; nor will your name be forgotten in the list. But I am
specially commissioned to inquire what pe you purpose making to the
Spanish Syren, for the piper must be paid. As to myself, I vow and protest
that I will not take a farthing ; the pleasure of having contributed to patch up
my old master’s broken fortunes, is more to me than all the ingots of the Indies.
But it is not precisely so with our nymph of Albarazin : she has a little Geer
blood to plead, when the Christian Per of loving your neighbour as herself
is preached up to her. She would pick her own natural father’s pocket ; so
judge you whether she would be above making a bargain with a travelling uncle.
She has only to name her own terms, answered Don Annibal. Whatever
my pension may be, she shall have the third of it annually if she pleases ; I will
e my word for it ; and that proportion ought to satisfy her craving, if his
Catholic Majesty had settled his whole exchequer onme. I would assoon take
your word as your bond, for my own part, replied the nimble-footed messenger
of Don Rodrigo ; I know that it will stand the assay ; but you have to deal
with a little creature who knows herself, and naturally supposes that she knows
all the rest of the world by the same token. Besides, she would like better to
take it in the lump ; two-thirds to be paid down now in ready money. Why,
how the devil does she mean that I should get the wherewithal ? bawled the cap-
taininaquandary. Doesshe take me for an auditor of public accounts, or trea-
surer to a charity ? You cannot have made her acquainted with my circumstances.
Yes, but I have, replied Pedrillo ; she knows very well that youare poorer than
Job ; after what she has heard from me she could think no otherwise. But do
not make yourself uneasy, my brain is never at a loss for an expedient. I know
an old scoundrel of an usurer, who will take ten per cent. if he can get no
more. You must assign your first year’s pension to him, in acknowledgment
for a like valuable consideration from him, which you will in point of fact re-
ceive, only deducting the above-mentioned interest. As to security, the lender
will take your castle at Chinchilla, for want of better ; there will be no dispute
about that.
The captain declared his readiness to accept the terms, in case of his being
so fortunate as to possess any beneficial interest in the good things to be given
away the next morning. It happened accordingly. He got a government with
a pension of three hundred pistoles. As soon as the news came, he signed and
sealed as required, settled his little concerns in town, and went off again for
New Castile with a balance of some few pistoles in his favour,
Cu. XIIL.—Gil Blas comes across his dear friend Fabricio at court. Great
ecstacy on both sides. They adjourn together, and compare notes ; but their
conversation ts too curious to be anticipated.
I HAD contracted a habit of going to the royal palace every morning, where I__
lounged away two or three good hours in seeing the good people pass to and
fro ; but their aspect was less imposing there than in other places, as the lesser
stars turn pale in the presence of the sun.
GIL BLAS MEETS WITH FABRICIO. 261
One day as I was walking back and fore, and strutting about the apartments,
making about as wise a figure there as my neighbours, I spied out Fabricio,
whom I had left at Valladolid in the service of a hospital director. It surprised
me not a little that he was chatting familiarly with the Duke of Medina Sidonia
and the Marquis of Santa Cruz. Those two noblemen, if my senses did not
deceive me, were listening with admiration to his prattle. To crown the whole,
he was as handsomely dressed as a grandee.
Surely I must be mistaken! thought I. Can this possibly be the son of
Nunez the barber? More likely it is some young courtier who bears a strong
resemblance to him. But my suspense was of no long duration. The party
broke up, and I accosted Fabricio, He knew me at once ; took me by the
hand, and after pressing through the crowd to get out of the precincts, said with
a hearty greeting, My dear Gil Blas, I am delighted to see you again. What
are you doing at Madrid? Are you still at service? Some place about the
court perhaps? How do matters stand with you? Let me into the history of
all that has happened to you since your precipitate flight from Valladolid. You
ask a great many questions in a breath, replied I; and we are not in a fit place
for story-telling. You are in the right, answered he ; we shall be better at
home. Come, I will shew you the way ; it is not far hence. I am quite my
own master, with all my comforts about me; perfectly easy as to the main
chance, with a light heart and a happy temper ; because I am determined to
. see everything on the bright side.
I accepted the proposal, and Fabricio escorted me. We stopped at a house
of magnificent appearance, where he told me that he lived. There was a court
to cross ; on one side it had a grand staircase leading to a suite of state apart-
ments, and on the other a small flight, dark and narrow, whither we betook
ourselves to a residence elevated in a different sense from what he had boasted.
It consisted of a single room, which my contriving friend had divided into four
by deal partitions. The first served as an ante-chamber to the second, where
he lay: of the third he made his closet, of the last his kitchen. The chamber
and antechamber were papered with maps, and many a sheet of philosophical
discussion ; nor was the furniture by any means unsuitable to the hangings,
There was a large brocade bed much the worse for wear ; tawdry old chairs
with coarse yellow coverings, fringed with Grenada silk of the same colour, a
table with gilt feet, and a cloth over it that once aspired to be red, bordered
with tinsel and embroidery tarnished by that old corroder, time ; with an ebony
cabinet, ornamented with figures in a clumsy taste of sculpture. Instead of a
convenient desk, he had a small table in his closet ; and his library was made
up with some few books, and a great many bundles of paper arranged on shelves
one above the other the whole length of the wall. His kitchen, too modest to
put the rest of the establishment out of countenance, exhibited a frugal assort-
ment of earthenware and other necessary implements of cookery.
Fabricio, when he had allowed me leisure to philosophize on his domestic ar-
rangements, begged to know my opinion of his apartments and his housekeep-
ing, and whether I was not enchanted with them: Yes, beyond all manner of
doubt, answered I with a roguish smile. You must have applied your wits to
a good purpose at Madrid, to have got so well accoutred. Of course you have
some post. Heaven preserve me from anything of the sort! replied he, My
line of life is far above all political situations. A man of rank, to whom this
house belongs, has given me a room in it, whence I have contrived to piece out
a suite of four, fitted up in such taste as you may see. I devote my time to no
employments but what are just to my fancy, and never feel what it is to want.
Explain yourself more intelligibly, said I, interrupting him. You set me all
agog to be let into your littlearrangements. Well, then! said he, I will rid you
262 GIL BLAS.
of that devil curiosity at once. I have commenced author, have plunged head-
long into the ocean of literature ; verse and prose run equally glib ; in short I
am a jack of all trades to the muses.
What! you bound in solemn league and covenant to Apollo? exclaimed I
with most intolerable laughter. Nothing under a prophet could ever have an-
ticipated this. I should have been less surprised at any other transformation.
What possible delights have you had the ingenuity to detect in the rugged land-
scape of Parnassus? It should seem as if the labourers there have a very poor
taking in civil life, and feed on a coarse diet without sauce. Out upon you!
cried he, in dudgeon at the hint. You are talking of those paltry authors,
whose works and even their persons are under the thumb of booksellers and
players. Is it any wonder that writers under such circumstances should be held
cheap? But the good ones, my friend, are on a better footing in the world ; and
I think it may be affirmed, vanity apart, that my name is to be found in their
list. Questionless, said I, talents like yours are convertible to every purpose ;
compositions from such a pen are not likely to be insipid. But I amon the rack
to know how this rage for fencing with inky weapons could have seized thee.
Your wonder and alarm has mind init, replied Nunez. I was so well pleased
with my situation in the service of Signor Manuel Ordonnez, that I had no
hankering after any other. But my genius, like that of Plautus, being too high-
minded to contract itself within the sphere of menial occupations, I wrotea play
and got it acted by a company then performing at Valladolid. Though it was
not worth the paper it was scrawled upon, it had more success than many bet-
ter pieces. Hence concluded I that the public was a silly bird, and would hatch
any eggs that were put under it. ‘That modest discovery, with the consequent
madness of incessant composition, alienated my affections from the hospital.
The love of poetry being stronger than the desire of accumulation, I determined
on repairing to Madrid, as the centre of everything distinguished, to form my
taste in that school. The first thing was to give the governor warning, who
parted with me to his own great sorrow, from a sort of affection the result of
similar propensities, Fabricio, said he, what possible ground can you have for
discontent ? None at all, sir, I replied ; you are the best of all possible masters,
and I am deeply impressed with your kind treatment ; but you know one must
follow whithersoever the stars ordain. I feel the sacred fire within me, on whose
aspiring element my name is to be wafted to posterity. What confounded non-
sense ! rejoined the old fellow, whose ideas were all pecuniary. You are al-
ready become a fixture in the hospital, and are made of a metal which may
easily be manufactured into a steward, or by good-luck even into a governor.
You are going to give up the great object of life, and to flutter about its frip-
pery. So much the worse for you, honest friend !
The governor, seeing how fruitless it was to struggle with my fixed resolve,
paid-me my wages, and made mea present of fifty ducats as an acknowledgment
of my services. Thus, between this supply and what I have been able to scrape
together out of some little commissions, which were assigned to me from an
opinion of my disinterestedness, I was in circumstances to make a very pretty
appearance on my arrival at Madrid; which I was not negligent in doing,
though the literary tribe in our country are not over-punctilious about decency
or cleanliness. I soon got acquainted with Lope de Vega, Cervantes, and the
whole set of them ; but though they were fine fellows, and thought so by the
public, I chose for my model in preference, Don Lewis de Gongora, the in-
comparable, a young bachelor of Cordova, decidedly the first genius that ever
Spain produced. He will not suffer his works to be printed during his life-
time ; but confines himself to a private communication among his friends.
What is very reinarkable, nature has gifted him with the uncommon talent of
GIL BLAS DINES WITH FABRICIO. 263
succeeding in every department of poetry. His principal excellence is in satire ;
there he outshines himself. He does not resemble, like Lucilius, a muddy
stream with a slimy bottom ; but is rather like the Tagus, rolling its transparent
waters over a golden sand.
You give a fine description of this bachelor, said I to Fabricio; and ques-
tionless a character of such merit must have attracted an infinite deal of envy.
The whole gang of authors, answered he, good and bad equally, are open-
mouthed against him. He deals in bombast, says one ; aims at double mean-
ings, luxuriates in metaphor, and affects transposition. His verses, says another,
have all the obscurity of those which the Salian priests used to chaunt in their
processions, and which nobody was the wiser for hearing. ‘There are others
who impute it to him as a fault, to have exercised his genius at one time in son-
nets or ballads, at another in play-writing, in heroic stanzas, and in minor efforts
of wit alternately, as if he had madly taken upon himself to eclipse the best
writers each in their own favourite walk. But all these thrusts of jealousy are
successfully parried, where the muse, which is their mark, becomes the idol of
the great and of the multitude at once.
Under so able a master did I serve my apprenticeship ; and, vanity apart, the
preceptor was reflected in the disciple. So happily did I catch his spirit, that
by this time he would not be ashamed to own some of my detached pieces.
After his example, I carry my goods to market at great houses where the bid-
ding is eager, and the sagacity of the bidders not difficult to match. It is true
that I have a very insinuating talent at recitation ; which places my compositions
in no disadvantageous light. In short, I am the dear delight of the nobility,
and live in the most particular intimacy with the Duke of Medina Sidonia, just
as Horace used to live with his jolly companion Mecenas. By such conjuration
and mighty magic have I won the name of author. You see the method lies
within a narrow compass. Now, Gil Blas, it is your turn to deliver a round
unvarnished tale of your exploits.
On this hint I spake; and unlike most narrators, gave all the important par-
ticulars, passing lightly over minute and tiresome circumstances. ‘The action
of talking, long continued, puts one in mind of dining. His ebony cabinet,
which served for larder, pantry, and all possible uses, was ransacked for napkins,
bread, a shoulder of mutton far gone in a decline, with its last and best con-
tents, a bottle of excellent wine; so that we sat down to table in high spirits,
as friends are wont to do after a long separation. You observe, said he, this
free and independent manner of life. I might find a plate laid for me every
day, if I chose it, in the very first houses ; but, besides that the muse often pays
me a visit and detains me within doors, I have a little of Aristippus in my
nature. I can pass with equal relish from the great and busy world to my re-
treat, from all the researches of luxury to the simplicity of my own frugal board.
The wine was so good, that we encroached upon a second bottle. As a relish
to our fruit and cheese, I begged to be favoured with the sight of something,
the offspring of his inspired moments. He immediately rummaged among his
papers, and read me a sonnet with much energy of tone. Yet, with all the
advantage of accent and expression, there was something so uncouth in the ar-
rangement, as to baffle all conjecture about the meaning. He saw how it puz-
zled me. This sonnet then, said he, is not quite level to your comprehension !
Is not that the fact? I owned that I should have preferred a construction
somewhat less forced. He began laughing at my rusticity. Well, then! replied
he; we will say that this sonnet would confuse clearer heads than thine:
it is all the better for that. Sonnets, odes, in short all compositions which par-
take of the sublime, are of course the reverse of the simple and natural: they
are enveloped in clouds, and their darkness constitutes their grandeur. Let the
°
264 C/L BLAS.
poet only fancy that he understands himself no matter whether his readers un-
derstand him or not. You are laughing at me, my friend, said I, interrupting
him. Let poetry be of what species it may, good sense and intelligible diction
are essential to its powers of pleasing. If your peerless Gongora is not a little
more lucid than yourself, I protest that his merit will never pass current with
me. Such poets may entrap their own age into applause, but will never live
beyond it. Now let me have a taste of your prose,
Nunez shewed me a preface which he meant to prefix to a dramatic miscel-
lany then in the press. He insisted on having my opinion, I like not your
prose one atom better than your verse, said I. Your sonnet is a roaring deluge
of emptiness ; and as for your Paes it is disfigured by a phraseology stolen
from languages yet in embryo, by words not stamped in the mint of general use,
by all the perplexity of a style that does not know what to make of itself. Ina
word, the composition is altogether a thing of your own. Our classical and
standard books are written in a very different manner. Poor tasteless wretch !
exclaimed Fabricio. You are not aware that every prose writer who aspires to
the reputation of sentiment and delicacy in these days, affects this style of his
own, these perplexities and innovations which are a stumbling-block to you.
There are five or six of us determined reformers of our language, who have
undertaken to turn the Spanish idiom topsy-turvy ; and with a blessing on our
endeavours, we will pull it down and build it up again in defiance of Lope de
Vega, Cervantes, and all the host of wits who cavil at our new modes of
Our party is strongly supported in the fashionable world, and we have laid
violent hands upon the pulpit.
After all, continued he, our project is commendable; for, to speak without
prejudice, we have ten times the merit of those natural writers, who express
themselves just like the mob. I cannot conceive why so many sensible men are
taken with them. It is all very well at Athens and at Rome, in a wild and un-
distinguishing democracy ; and on that principle only could Socrates tell Alci-
biades, that the last appeal was to the people.in all disputes about language.
But at Madrid there is a polite and a vulgar usage; so that our courtiers talk in
a different tongue from their tradesmen. You may assure yourself that it is so;
in fine, this newly invented style is carrying everything before it, and turning old
nature out of doors. Now I will explain to you by a single instance the differ-
ence between the elegance of our diction and the flatness of theirs. They would
say, for example, in plain terms, ‘‘ Ballets incidental to the piece are an orna-
ment to a play;” but in our mode of expression, we say more exquisitely,
‘* Ballets incidental to the piece are the very life and soul of the play.” Now
observe the phrase; 4/2 and soul. Are you sensible how glowing it is, at the
same time how descriptive, setting before you all the motions of the dancers, as
on an intellectual stage ?
I broke in upon my reformer of language with a burst of laughter. Get
along with you, Fabricio, said I, you are a coxcomb of your own manufacture,
with your affected finery of phrase. And you, answered he, are a blockhead of
nature’s clumsy moulding, with your starch simplicity. He then went on taunt-
ing me with the archbishop of Grenada’s angry banter on my dismission. ‘‘ Get
about your business! Go and tell my treasurer to pay you a hundred ducats,
and take my blessing in addition to that sum. God speed you, good master
Gil Blas! I heartily pray that you may do well in the world! ere is no-
thing to stand in your way, but a little better taste.” I roared out in a still
louder explosion of laughter at this lucky hit; and Fabricio, easily appeased
on the score of impiety, as manifested in the opinion expressed concerning his
writings, lost nothing of his pleasant and propitious temper. We got to the
bottom of our second bottle; and then rose from the table in fine order for an
GIL BLAS AND FABRICIO IN A LIQUOR SHOP. 265
adventure. Our first intention was to see what was to be seen upon the Prado;
but passing in front of a liquor-shop, it came into our heads that we might as
well go in.
The company was in general tolerably select at this house of call. There
were two distinct apartments; and the pastime in each was of a very opposite
nature. One was devoted to games of chance or skill; the other to literary
and scientific discussion: and there were at that moment two clever men by
profession handling an argument most pertinaciously, before ten or twelve
auditors deeply interested in the discussion. There was no occasion to join the
circle, because the metaphysical thunder of their logic made itself heard at a
more respectful distance: the heat and passion with which this abstract contro-
versy was managed made the two philosophers look little better than madmen.
A certain Eleazar used to cast out devils, by tying a ring to the nose of the
possessed ; had these learned swine been ringed in the same manner, how many
little imps would have taken wing out of their nostrils? Angels and ministers
of grace defend us, said I to my companion : what contortions of gesture, what
extravagance of elocution! One might as well argue with the town crier. How
little do we know our natural calling in society! Very true indeed, answered
he: you have read of Novius, the Roman pawnbroker, whose lungs went as
far beyond the rattle of chariot-wheels, as his conscience beyond the rate of
legal interest; the Novii must certainly have been transplanted into Spain, and
these fellows are lineal descendants. But the hopeless part of the case is, that
though our organs of sense are deafened, our understandings are not invigor-
ated at their expense. We thought it best to make our escape from these
braying metaphysicians, and by that prudent motion to avoid a headache which
was just beginning to annoy us. We went and seated ourselves in a corner of
the other room, whence, as we sipped our refreshing beverage, all comers and
goers were obnoxious to our criticism. Nunez was acquainted with almost the
whole set. Heaven and earth! exclaimed he, the clash of philosophy is as
yet but in its beginning; fresh reinforcements are coming in on both sides.
Those three men just on the threshold, mean to let slip the dogs of war. But
do you see those two queer fellows going out? That little swarthy, leather-com-
plexioned Adonis, with long lank hair parted in the middle with mathematical
exactness, is Don Juliano de Villanuno, He is a young barrister, with more
of the prig than the lawyer about him. A party of us went to dine with him
the other day. The occupation we caught him in was singular enough. He
was amusing himself in his office with making a tall grey-hound fetch and carry
the briefs in the causes which were so unfortunate as to have him retained ; and
of course the canine amicus curi@ set his fangs indifferently into the flesh of plain-
tiff or defendant, tearing law, equity, precedent, and principle into shreds. That
licentiate at his elbow, with jolly, pimple-spangled nose and cheeks, goes by
the name of Don Cherubino Tonto. He is a canon of Toledo, and the greatest
fool that was ever suffered to walk the earth without a keeper. And yet, he
arrays his features in that sort of not quite unmeaning smile, that you would
give him credit for good sense as well as good humour. His eye has the look
of cunning if not of wisdom, and his laugh too much of sarcasm for an abso-
lute idiot. One would conclude that he hada turn for mischief, but kept it
down from principle and feeling. If you wish to take his opinion upon a work
of genius, he will hear it read with so grave and wrapt a silence, as nothing but
deep thought and acute mental criticism could justify; but the truth is, that he
comprehends not one word, and therefore can have nothing to say. He was
of the barrister party. There were a thousand good things said, as there always
must be in a professional company. Don Cherubino added nothing to the mass
of merriment ; but looked such perfect approbation at those who did, was so
266 GIL BLAS.
tractable and complimentary a listener, that every man at table placed him
second in the comparative estimate of merit.
Do you know, said 1 to Nunez, who those two fellows are with dirty clothes
and matted hair, their elbows on that table in the corner, and their cheeks upon
their hands, whiffing foul breath into each other’s nostrils as they lay their
heads together? He told me that by their faces they were strangers to him;
but that by physical and moral tokens they could only be coffee-house politi-
cians, venting their spleen against the measures of government. But do look
at that spruce spark, whistling as he paces up and down the other room, and
balancing himself alternately on one toe and on the other. That is Don Au-
gustino Moreto, a young poet sufficiently of nature’s mint and coinage to pass
current, if flatterers and sciolists had not debased him into a mere coxcomb by
their misplaced admiration, The man to whom he is going up with that
familiar ahales by the hand, is one of the set who write verses and then call
themselves poets ; who claim a speaking acquaintance with the muses, but never
were of their private parties.
Authors upon authors, nothing but authors! exclaimed he, pointing out two
dashing blades. One would think they had made an appointment on purpose
to pass in review before you. Don Bernardo Deslenguado and Don Sebastian
of Villa Viciosa! The first is a vinegar-flavoured vintage of Parnassus, a satirist
by trade and company ; he hates all the world, and is not liked the better for
his taste. As for Don Sebastian, he is the milk and honey of criticism; he
would not have the guilt of ill-nature on his conscience for the universe. He
has just brought out a comedy without a single idea, which has succeeded with
an audience of tantamount ideas; and he has just now published it to vindicate
his innocence.
Gongora’s candid pupil was at on in his career of benevolent explan-
ation, when one of the Duke de Medina Sidonia’s household came up and
said: Signor Don Fabricio, my lord duke wishes to speak with you. You will
find him at home. Nunez, who knew that the wishes of a great lord could not
be too soon gratified, left me without ceremony; but he left me in the utmost
consternation, to hear him called Don, and thus ennobled, in spite of master
Chrysostom the barber’s escutcheon, who had the honour to call him father.
Cu. XIV.—Fabricio finds a situation for Gil Blas in the establishment of
Count Galiano, a Sicilian nobleman.
I was too happy in Fabricio’s society, not to hunt him out again early the
next morning. Good day to you, Signor Don Fabricio, said I on my first
approach; it seems you are the picked and chosen flower, or rather, saving
your presence, the nondescript excrescence of the Asturian nobility. This sar-
casm had no other effect than to set him laughing heartily. Then the title of
Don was not lost upon you! exclaimed he. No, indeed, my noble lord, answered
I; and you will give me leave to tell you that when you were recounting your
transformations to me yesterday, you forgot the most extraordinary. Exactly
so, replied he; but to speak sincerely, if I have taken up that prefix of dignity,
it is less to tickle my own vanity, than in tenderness to that of others. You
know what stuff the Spaniards are made of; an honest man is no honest man
to them, if his honour is not bolstered up with escutcheons, pedigree, and patri-
mony. I may tell you, moreover, that there are so many gentry, and very queer
sort of gentry too, dubbed Don Francisco, Don Pedro, Don at-do-you-call-
him, or Don Devil, that if they owe their coats of arms to any herald but their
own impudence, modern nobility is a mere drug in the market, so that a ple- |
GIL BLAS INTRODUCED TO COUNT GALIANO. 267
beian of nature’s ennobling confers infinite honour on the upstarts of an artificial
creation, by herding with their order.
But let us change the subject, added he. Last night, supping at the Duke
de Medina Sidonia’s, where among other company we had Count Galiano, a_
eat Sicilian nobleman, the conversation turned upon the ridiculous effects of
self-love. Delighted at having a case in point by way of illustration, I treated
them with the story of the homilies. You may well suppose that there was a
hearty laugh, and that the archbishop’s dignity was not saved in the concussion ;
but the effect was not amiss for you, since the company felt for your situation ;
and Count Galiano, after a long string of questions, which of course I answered
to your advantage, commissioned me to introduce you. I was just now going
to look after you for that purpose. In all probability he means to offer you a
situation as one of his secretaries. I advise you not to hang back. The count
is rich, and lives away at Madrid, on the scale of anambassador. He is said to
have come to court on a negotiation with the Duke of Lerma, respecting some
crown lands which that minister thinks of alienating in Sicily. In one word,
Count Galiano, though a Sicilian, has every feature of generosity, fair dealing,
and gentlemanly conduct. You cannot do better than get upon that noble-
man’s establishment. In all probability, the flattering prophecy respecting you
at Grenada is to be fulfilled in his person.
It was my full determination, said I to Nunez, to take my swing about town
and look at men and manners a little, before the harness was buckled on my
back again; but you paint your Sicilian nobleman in colours which fascinate
my imagination and change my purpose. I should like to close with him at
once. You will do so very soon, replied he, or I am much deceived. We
sallied forth together immediately, and went to the count’s, who resided in
the house of his friend, Don Sancho d’Avila, the latter being then in the
country.
The court-yard was overrun with pages and footmen in rich and elegant
liveries, while the ante-chamber was blockaded by esquires, gentlemen, and
various officers of the household. They were all as fine as possible, but with
so whimsical an assortment of features, that you might have taken them for a
cluster of monkeys dressed up to satirize the Spanish fashions. Do what you
will, there is a certain class of men and women in nature, whom no art can
trick out into anything human.
At the very name of Don Fabricio, a lane was formed for my patron, and I
followed in the rear. The count was in his dressing-gown, sitting on a sofa
and taking his chocolate. We made our obeisance in the most respectful
manner; while an inclination of the head on his part, accompanied with a con-
descending smile, won my heart at once. It is very wonderful, and yet very
common, how the most trifling notice from the great penetrates the very soul
of those who are not accustomed to it! They must have behaved like fiends,
before their behaviour will be complained of.
After taking his chocolate, he recreated himself with the humours of a large
ape, which underwent the name of Cupid: why the ape was made a god, or
the god likened to an ape, the parties concerned can best answer; the only
point of resemblance seemed to be mischief. At all events, this hairy brat of
the sylvan Venus had so gamboled himself into his master’s good graces, had
established such a character for wit and humour, that the life of society was
extinguished in his absence. As for Nunez and myself, though we had a
better turn for drollery, we were cunning enough to chime in with the prevail-
ing taste. The Sicilian was highly delighted with this, and tore himself away
for a moment from his favourite pastime, just to tell me: My friend, you have
only to say whether you choose to be one of my secretaries. If the situation
268 GIL BLAS.
suits you, the salary is two hundred pistoles a year. If Don Fabricio gives
you a character, that is enough. Yes, my lord, cried Nunez, I am not such a
cowardly fellow as Plato, who introduced one of his friends to Dionysius the
tyrant, and then was afraid to back his own recommendation. But I have no
anxiety about being reproached on that head.
I thanked the poet of the Asturias with a low bow, for having so much better.
an opinion of me than Plato had of his friend. Then addressing my patron, I
assured him of my zeal and fidelity. No sooner did this good nobleman per-
ceive his proposal to be acceptable, then he rang for his steward, and after
talking to him apart, said to me: Gil Blas, I will explain the nature of your
post hereafter. Meanwhile, you have only to follow that right-hand man of
mine; he has his orders how to bestow you. I immediately retreated, leaving
Fabricio behind with the Count and Cupid.
The steward, who came from Messina, and proved by all his actions that he
came thence, led the way to his own room, overwhelming me all the while
with the kindness of his reception. He sent for the tailor who lived upon the
skirts of the household, and ordered him to make me out of hand a suit of
equal magnificence with those of the principal officers. The tailor took my
measure and withdrew. As to lodging, said the native of Messina, I know a
room which will just suit you. Butstay! Have you breakfasted? I answered
in the negative. Oh! poor shamefaced youth, replied he, why did not you say
so? Come this way: I will introduce you where, thank heaven, you have only
to ask and have.
So saying, he led me down into the buttery, where we found the clerk of the
kitchen, who was a Neapolitan, and of course a complete match for his neigh-
bour on the other side of the water. It might be said of this pair that they
were formed to meet by nature. This honest clerk of the kitchen was doing
justice to his trade by cramming himself and five or six hangers-on with ham,
tongue, sausages, and other savoury compositions, which, besides their own
relish, possess the merit of engendering thirst: we made common cause with
these jolly fellows, and helped them to toss off some of my lord the count’s
best wines. While these things were going on in the buttery, kindred exploits
were performing in the kitchen. The cook too was regaling three or four
tradesmen of his acquaintance, who liked good wine as well as ourselves, nor
disdained to stuff their craws with meat pasties and game: the very scullions
were at free quarters, and filched whatever they pleased. I fancied myself in
a house given up to plunder; and yet what I saw was comparatively fair and
honest. These little festivities were laughing matters; but the private trans-
actions of the family were very serious.
Cu. XV.—TZhe employment of Gil Blas in Don Galiano’s household.
I WENT away to fetch my moveables to my new residence. On my return the
count was at table with several noblemen and the poet Nunez, who called
about him as if perfectly at home, and took a principal share in the conversa-
tion. Indeed, he never opened his lips without applause. So much for wit!
with that commodity at market, a man may pay his way in any company.
It was my lot to dine with the gentlemen of the household, who were served
nearly as well as their employer. After meal-time I withdrew to ruminate on
my lot. So farso good, Gil Blas! said I to myself: here you are in the family
of a Sicilian count, of whose character you know nothing. ‘To judge by ap-
pearances, you will be as much in your element as a duck upon the water.
But do not make too sure! you ought to look askew at your horoscope, whose
unkindly position you have too often experienced with a vengeance. Inde-
EMPLOYMENT OF GIL BLAS. 269
pendent of that, it is not easy to conjecture what he means you to do. ‘there
are secretaries and a steward already: where can your post be? In all likeli-
hood you are intended to manage his little private affairs. Well and good!
There is no better luck about the house of a great nobleman, if you would
travel post haste to make your fortune. In the performance of more honour-
able services, a man gets on only step by step, and even at that pace often sticks
by the way.
While these philosophical reflections were revolving in my mind, a servant
came to tell me that all the company was gone home, and that my lord the
count was inquiring for me. I flew immediately to his apartment, where I
found him lolling on the sofa, ready to take his afternoon’s nap, with his mon-
key by his side.
_ Come nearer, Gil Blas, said he; take a chair, and hear me attentively. I
ieee myself in an attitude of profound listening, when he addressed me as
ollows. Don Fabricio has informed me that, among other good qualities, you
have that of sincere attachment to your masters, and incorruptible integrity.
These are my inducements for proposing to take you into my service. I stand
in need of a friend in a domestic, to espouse my interests and apply his whole
heart and soul to the reform of my establishment. My fortune is large, it
must be confessed, but my expenditure far exceeds my income every year.
And how happens that? Because they rob, ransack, and devour me. '
might as well be in a forest infested by banditti, as an inhabitant of my own
house. I suspect the clerk of the kitchen and my steward of playing into one
another’s hands; and unless my thoughts are unjust as well as uncharitable,
they are pushing forward as fast as they can to ruin me beyond redemption,
You will ask me what I have to do but.send them packing, if I think them
scoundrels. But then where are others to be got of a better breed? It will be
sufficient to place them under the eye of a man who shall be invested with the
right of control over their conduct ; and you have I chosen to execute this com-
mission. If you discharge it well, be assured that your services will not be
repaid with ingratitude. I shall take care to provide you with a very comfort-
able settlement in Sicily.
With this he dismissed me; and that very evening, in the presence of the
whole household, I was proclaimed principal manager and surveyor-general of
the family. Our gentlemen of Messina and Naples expressed no particular
chagrin at first, because they considered me as a spark of mettle like their own,
and took it for granted, that though the loaf was to be shared with a third,
there would always be cut and come again for the triumvirate. But they
looked inexpressibly foolish the next day, when I declared myself in serious
terms a decided enemy to all peculation and underhand dealing. From the
clerk of the kitchen I required the buttery accounts without varnish or conceal-
ment. I went down into the cellar. The furniture of the butler’s pantry un-
derwent a strict examination, particularly in the articles of plate and linen.
Next I read them a serious lecture on the duty of acting for their employer as
they would for themselves; exhorted them to adopt a system of economy in
their expenditure; and wound up my harangue with a protestation, that his
lordship should be acquainted with the very first instance of any unfair tricks
that I should discover in the exercise of my office.
But I had not yet got to the length of my tether. There was still wanting
a scout to ascertain whether they had any private understanding. I fixed. upon
a scullion, who, won over by my promises, told me that I could not have ap-
plied to a better person to be informed of all that was passing in the family ;
that the clerk of the kitchen and the steward were one as good as the other,
and agreed to burn the candle at both ends; that half the provisions bought for
270 GIL BLAS.
the table were made perquisites by these gentlemen; that the Neapolitan kept
a lady who lives opposite St Thomas’s college, and his colleague, not to be
outdone, provided for another next door to the Sungate; that these two nymphs
had their larder regularly supplied every morning, while the cook, following a
good example, sent a few little nice things to a widow of his acquaintance in
the neighbourhood: but as he winked at the table arrangements of his dear
and confidential friends, it was but fair that he should draw whenever he
pleased upon the ‘wine-cellar: in short, by the preiont of these three blood-
suckers, a most horrible system of extravagance found its way into my lord
the count’s establishment. If you doubt my veracity, added the scullion, only
take the trouble of going to-morrow morning about seven o’clock into the
neighbourhood of St Thomas’s college, and you will see me with a load upon
my back, which will convert your suspicions into certainty. Then you, said I,
are in the confidence of these honest purveyors? I am factor to the clerk of
the kitchen, answered he; and one of my comrades runs on errands for the
steward.
I had the curiosity the next day to loiter about St Thomas’s college at the
appointed hour. My informer was punctual to time and place. He brought
with him a large tray full of butcher’s meat, poultry, and game. I took an
account of every article; and drew out the bill of fare in my memorandum
book, for the purpose of shewing it to my master: at the same time telling my
little turnspit to execute his commission as usual.
His Sicilian lordship, naturally warm in his temper, would have turned his
countryman and the Italian out of doors together, in the first fury of his anger ;
but after cooling upon it, he got rid of the tami only, and gave me his vacant
place. Thus my office of supervisor was suppressed very shortly after its crea-
tion ; nor did I relinquish it with any reluctance. To define it strictly and
properly, it was nothing better than that of a spy with a sounding title ; there
was nothing substantial in the nature of the appointment : whereas to the stew-
ardship was tied the key of the strong box, and with that goes the mastery of
the whole family. There are so many little perquisites and so much patronage
attached to that department of administration, that a man must inevitably get
rich, almost in spite of his own honesty.
But our Neapolitan was not so easily to be driven from his strongholds.
Observing to what a pitch of savage zeal I carried my integrity, and that I was
up every morning time enough to enter in my books the exact quantity of meat
that came from market, he abandoned the practice of sending it off by whole-
sale: yet the plunderer did not therefore contract the scale of his demands on
the animal creation. He was cunning enough to make it as broad as it was
long, by arranging the services with so much the more profusion. Thus, what
was sent down again untouched being his property by culinary common law,
he had nothing to do but to pamper up his pet with victuals ready dressed,
instead of giving her the trouble of cooking for hharsclé The devil will levy his
due out of every transaction ; so that the count was very little the better for his
paragon of a steward. The unbounded prodigality in our style of setting out a
table, even to a surfeiting degree, was a plain hint to me of what was going
forward ; I therefore took upon myself to retrench the superfluities of every
course. This, however, was done with so judicious a hand, that there was no-
thing like parsimony to be discovered. No one would ever have missed what
was taken away ; and yet the expense was reduced very considerably by a well-
regulated economy. That was just what my employer wanted ; good house-
wifery, but a magnificent establishment. ere was a love of saving at the
bottom ; but a taste for grandeur was the ostensible passion.
Abuses seldom exist alone. The wine flowed too freely. If, for instance,
GIL BLAS’ CONDUCT AS STEWARD. 271
there were a dozen gentlemen at his lordship’s table, the consumption was sel-
dom less than fifty, sometimes sixty bottles. This was strange ; and looked as
if there was more in it than met the lips of the guests. Hereupon I consulted
my oracle of the scullery, whence I derived most of my wisdom : for he brought
me a faithful account of all that was said and done in the kitchen, where they—
had not the least suspicion of him. It seemed that the havoc of which I com-
plained proceeded from a new confederacy between the clerk of the kitchen,
the cook, and the under butler. The latter carried off the bottles half full, and
shared their contents with his allies. I spoke to him on the subject, threaten-
ing to turn him and all the footmen under him out of doors at a minute’s warn-
ing, if ever they did the like again. The hint was understood, and the evil
remedied. I took especial care lest the slightest of my services should be lost
upon my master, who overwhelmed me with commendations, and took a greater
liking to me every day. On my part, as a reward to the scullion, he was pro-
moted to the situation next under the cook.
The Neapolitan was furious at encountering me in every direction. The most
vating circumstance of the whole was the overhauling of his accounts ; for,
to pare his nails the closer, I had gone into the market, and informed myself
of the prices. I followed him through all his doublings, and always took off
the market penny which he wanted to add. He must have cursed me a hun-
dred times a day ; but the curses of the wicked fall in blessings on the good.
I wonder how he could stay in his place under such discipline ; but probably
something still stuck by the fingers.
Fabricio, whom I saw occasionally, rather blamed my conduct than otherwise.
Tleaven grant, said he, one day, that all this virtue may meet with its reward !
But between ourselves you might as well be a little more practicable with the
clerk of the kitchen. What! answered I, shall this freebooter put a bold face
upon the matter, and charge a fish at ten pistoles in his bill, which costs only four,
and would you have me pass the articles in my accounts? Why not? replied
he, coolly. He has only to let you go snacks in the commission, and the books
will be balanced in your favour by the customary rule of stewardship arithmetic.
Upon my word, my friend, you are enough to overturn all regular systems of
housekeeping ; and you are likely to end your days ina livery, if you let the eel
slip through your fingers without skinning it. You are to learn that fortune is
a very woman ; ready and eager to surrender, but expecting the formality of a
summons.
I only laughed at this doctrine ; and Nunez laughed at it too, when he found
that bad advice was thrown away upon an incorrigibly honest subject. He then
wished to make me believe it was alla mere joke. At all events, nothing
could shake my resolution to act for my employer as for myself. Indeed my
actions corresponded with my words on that subject ; for I may venture to say
that in four months my master saved at least three thousand ducats by my
thrift.
Cu. XVI.—Ax accident happens to the Count de Galiano’s monkey ; his lord-
ship’s affliction on that occasion. The illness of Gil Blas, and its consequences.
AT the expiration of the before-mentioned time, the repose of the family was
marvellously troubled by an accident, which will appear but a trifle to the reader;
and yet it was a very serious matter to the household, especially to me. Cupid,
the monkey of whom I was speaking, that animal, so much the idol of our lord
and master, attempting to leap from one window to another, performed so
ill as to fall into the court and put his leg out of joint. No sooner were the
fatal tidings carried to the count, than he sung a dirge which pealed through
272 GIL BLAS.
all the neighbourhood. In the extremity of his sufferings, every inmate without
exception was taken to task, and we were all within an inch of being packed off
about our business. But the storm only rumbled without falling ; he gave us
and our negligence to the devil, without being by any means select in the terms
of the bequest. The most notorious of the faculty in the line of fractures and
dislocations were sent for. ‘They examined the poor dear leg, set, and bound it
up. But though they all gave it as their opinion that there was no danger, my
master could not be satisfied without retaining the most eminent about the per-
son of the animal, till he could be pronounced to be in a state of convalescence.
It would be a manifest injustice to the family affections of his Sicilian lord-
ship, not to commemorate all the agonizing sensations of his soul during this
period of painful suspense. Would it be thought possible that this tender nurse
did not stir from his darling Cupid’s bedside all the live-long day ? The band-
ages were never altered or adjusted but in his presence, and he got up two or
three times in the night to inquire after his patient. The most provoking part
of the business was, that all the servants, and myself in particular, were required
to be eternally on the alert, to anticipate the slightest wishes of this ridiculous
baboon, In short, there was no peace in the house, till the cursed beast, havy-
ing recovered from the effects of its fall, got back again to his old tricks and
whirligigs. After this shall we be mealy-mouthed about believing Suetonius,
when he tells us that Caligula cared more for his horse than for all the world
besides, that he gave him more than the establishment and attendance of a
senator, and that he even wanted to make him consul? Our wise master stop-
ped little short of the emperor in his partiality to the monkey ; and had serious
thoughts of purchasing for him the place of corregidor.
Mine was the worst luck of any in the family ; for I had so topped my part
above all the other servants, by way of paying my court to his lordship, and
had nursed poor dear Cupid with such assiduity, as to throw mysélf into a fit
of illness. A violent fever seized me, so that I was almost at death’s door.
They did what they pleased with me for a whole fortnight, without my con-
sciousness ; for the sSuvetelanis and the fates were both conspiring against me.
But my youth was more than a match for the fever and the prescriptions united.
When I recovered my senses, the first use I made of them was to observe my-
self removed to another room. I wanted to know why; and asked an old
woman who nursed me: but she told me that I must not talk, as the physician
had expressly forbidden it. When we are well, we turn up our noses at the
doctors ; but when we are sick, we are as much like old women as themselves.
It seemed best therefore to keep silence, though with an inveterate longing
to hold converse with my attendant. I was debating the point in my own mind,
when there came in two foppish-looking fellows, dressed in the very extreme of
fashion. Nothing less than velvet would serve their turn, with linen and lace
to correspond. ‘They looked like men of rank ; and I could have sworn that
they were some of my master’s friends come to see me out of regard for him.
Under that impression I attempted to sit up, and flung away my nightcap to
look genteel ; ‘but the nurse forced me under the bedclothes again, and tucked
me up, announcing these gentlemen at the same time, as my physician and
apothecary.
The doctor came up to my bedside, felt my pulse, looked in my face ; and
discovering undeniable symptoms of approaching convalescence, assumed an air
of triumph, as if it was all his handiwork ; and said there was nothing wanting
but to keep the bowels open, and then he flattered himself he might boast of
having performed an extraordinary cure. Speaking after this manner, he dic-
tated a prescription to the apothecary, looking in the glass all the time, adjust-
ing the dress of his hair, and twisting his visage into shapes which set me laugh-
GIL BLAS REFUSES HIS MEDICINE. 273
ing in spite of my debility. At length he took his leave witha slight inclination
of the head, and went his way, more taken with the contemplation of his own
pretty person, than anxious about the success of his remedies.
After his departure, the apothecary, not to have the trouble of a visit for no-
thing, made ready to proceed as it is prescribed in certain cases. Whether he
was afraid that the old woman’s skill was not equal to the exigency, or whether
he meant to enhance his own services by assiduity, he chose to operate in per-
son ; but in spite of practice and experience, accidents will happen. Haste to
return benefits is among the most amiable propensities of our nature ; and such
was my eagerness not to be behindhand with my benefactor, that his velvet
dress bore immediate testimony to the profuseness of my gratitude. This he
considered merely as one of those little occurrences which chequer the fortunes
of the pharmaceutical profession. A napkin is a resource for everything ina
sick room, and least said was soonest mended ; so he wiped himself quietly,
vowing indemnity and vengeance to himself for the necessity under which he
unquestionably laboured of sending his clothes to the scourer.
On the following morning he returned to the attack more modestly equipped,
though there was then no risk of my springing a countermine, as he had
only to administer the potion which the doctor had prescribed the evening be-
fore. Besides that I felt myself getting better every moment, I had taken such
a dislike, since the day before, to the pill-dispensing tribe, as to curse the very
universities where these graduated cut-throats kept their exercises in the faculty
of slaying. In this temper of mind, I declared, witha round oath, that I would
not accept of health through such a medium, but would willingly make over Hip-
pocrates and his myrmidons to the devil. The apothecary, who did not care
a doit what became of his compound, if it was but paid for, left the phial on
the table, and stalked away in Telamonian silence.
I immediately ordered that bitch of a medicine to be thrown out of window,
having set myself so doggedly against it, that I would as soon have swallowed
arsenic. Having once drawn the sword, I threw away the scabbard ; and
erecting my tongue into an independent potentate, told my nurse in a deter-
mined tone, that she must absolutely inform me what was become of my mas-
ter. The old lady, fearing lest the development of the mystery might completely
overset me, or thinking possibly that her prey might escape out of her clutches
for want of a little irritating contradiction, was most provokingly mute ; but I
was so pressing in my demand to be obeyed, that she at length gave me a de-
cisive answer: Worthy sir, you have no longer any master but your own will.
Count Galiano is gone back into Sicily.
I could not believe my ears; and yet it was fatally the fact. That nobleman,
on the second day of my indisposition, being afraid of harbouring death under
the same roof with him, had the benevolence to send me packing with my little
effects to a ready-furnished room, where providence was left to cure, or a nurse
to kill me, as it happened. While the alternative was tottering on the balance,
he was ordered back into Sicily, and in the headlong haste of his obedience,
never thought about me; whether it was that he numbered me already among
the dead, or that great lords, like great wits, have short memories.
My nurse gave me these particulars, and informed me that it was she who
had called in a physician and an apothecary, that I might not die without pro-
fessional honours. I fell into profound musing at this fine story. Farewell my
brilliant establishment in Sicily! Farewell my budding hopes and blushing
honours! When any great misfortune shall have befallen you, says a certain
pope, look well to your own conduct, and you will find that there is always some-
thing wrong at the bottom of it. With all reverent submission to his holi-
ness, I cannot help thinking myself in thts instance an exception to the infalli-
244 | GIL BLAS.
bility of his maxim. How the deuce was I to blame for being visited by a
fever? There was more reason for remorse in the monkey or his master than
in me,
When I beheld the flattering chimeras with which my head was filled, all
vanishing into air, into thin air, the first thing that worried my poor brain was
my portmanteau, which I ordered to be laid upon my bed to examine it. I
groaned heavily on discovering that it had been opened. Alas! my dear port-
manteau, exclaimed I, my only hope, consolation, and refuge! You have been,
to all appearance, a prisoner in an enemy’s country, No, no, Signor Gil Blas,
said the old woman, make yourself easy on that head; you have not fallen
among thieves. Your baggage is as immaculate as my honour.
I found the dress I had on at my first entrance into the count’s service; but it
was in vain to look for that which my friend from Messino had ordered for me
as a member of the household. My master had not thought fit to leave me in
possession of it, or else some one had made free with it. All my other little
matters were safe, and even a large leather purse with my coin in it, which I
counted over twice, not being able to believe at first that there could be only
fifty pistoles remaining out of two hundred and sixty, which was the balance of
the account before my illness, What is the meaning of all this, my good lady ?
said I to the nurse. Here is a leak in the vessel. No living soul but myself
has touched a farthing, answered the old woman, and I have been as good an
economist for you as possible. But illness is very expensive; one must always
have one’s money in one’s hand, Here! added this excellent economist, taking
a bundle of papers out of her pocket, this is a statement of debtor and creditor,
as exact as a banker’s book, and you will see that I have not laid out the veriest
trifle in need-nots.
I ran over the account with a hasty glance; for it extended to fifteen or
twenty pages. Mercy onus! The poulterers’ shops must have been exhausted,
while I was in too weak a state to take sustenance! There must have been at
least twelve pistoles stewed down into broths. Other articles were much to
the same tune, It was incredible what a sum had been lavished in firing,
candles, water, brooms, and innumerable articles of housekeeping and house-
cleaning. After all, extortionate as the bill was, the utmost ingenuity could not
raise it above thirty pistoles, and consequently there was a deficiency of a hun-
dred and eighty to make the account even. I just ventured to point that out ;
but the old woman, with a shew of simplicity and candour, put all the saints in
the calendar into requisition to attest that there were no more than eighty
pistoles in the purse when the count’s steward gave her charge of the wallet.
What say you, my good woman, interrupted I with precipitation: was it the
steward who placed my effects in your hands? To be sure it was, answered
she; the very man; and with this piece of advice: Here, good mother, when
Gil Blas shall be numbered with the dead, do not fail to treat him with a hand-
some funeral ; there is in this wallet wherewithal to defray the expenses.
Ah! most pestiferous Neapolitan ! exelaimed I in the bitterness of my heart.
I am no longer at a loss to conjecture what is become of the deficiency. You
have swept it off as an indemnity for a part of the plunder which I have pre-
vented you from making free with. After relieving my mind by exclamations,
I returned thanks to heaven that the scoundrel had been so modest as not to
take the whole. Yet whatever reason I had for believing the action to be per-
fectly in character for the person to whom it was imputed, the nurse had not
altogether cleared herself pom my suspicions. They hovered sometimes over
one and sometimes over the other; but let them light where they would, it was
all the same to me. I said nothing about the matter to the old woman; not
even so much as to haggle about the items of her fine bill. I should not have
RAPACIOUSNESS OF THE DOCTORS. 275
been an atom the richer for doing so; and we must all live by our trades. The
utmost of my malice was to pay her and send her packing three days afterwards.
I am inclined to think that at her departure she gave the apothecary notice
of her quitting the premises, and having left me sufficiently in possession of my-
self to take French leave without acknowledging my obligations to him; for she
had not been gone many minutes before he came in puffing and blowing, with
his bill in his hand. ‘There, under names which had escaped my conscription,
though as arrant a physician as the worst of them, he had set down all the
hypothetical remedies which he insisted that I had taken during the time when
I could take nothing. This bill might truly be called the epitome of an
apothecary’s conscience. Such being the case, we had a bustle about the pay-
ment. I pleaded for an abatement of one-half. He swore that he would not
take a doit less than his just demand. He kept his oath and yet relaxed ; for
considering that he had to do with a young man who might run away from
Madrid within four-and-twenty hours, he preferred my offer of three hundred
per cent. on the prime cost of his drugs, though a pitiful profit for an apothecary,
to the risk of losing all. I counted out the money with an aching heart, and he
withdrew, chuckling over his revenge for the scurvy trick I had played him on
the day of evacuation.
The physician made his appearance next ; for beasts of prey inhabit the same
latitudes. I fee’d him for his visits, which had been quite as frequent as neces-
sary, and his object was answered. But he would not leave me without proving
how hardly he had earned his money, for that he had not only expelled the
enemy from the interior, but had defended the frontiers from the attack of all
the disorders on the army list of the materia medica. He talked very learnedly,
with good emphasis and discretion ; so much so, that I did not comprehend one
word he said. When I had got rid of him, I flattered myself that the destinies
had now done their worst. But I was mistaken; for there came a surgeon whose
face I had never seen in the whole course of my life. He accosted me very
politely, and congratulated me on the imminent danger I had escaped ; attribut-
ing the happy issue of my complaints to those which he had himself cut, with
the profuse application of bleeding, cupping, blistering, and all sorts of torments,
consequent and inconsequent. Another feather out of my poor wing! I was
obliged to pay toll to the surgeon also. After so many purgatives, my purse
was brought to such a state of debility, that it might be considered as dead and
gone; a mere skeleton, drained of all its vital juices.
My spirits began to flag, on the contemplation of my wretched case. In the
service of my two last masters I had wedded myself to the pomps and vanities
of this wicked world; and could no longer, as heretofore, look poverty in the
face with the sternness of a cynic. It must be owned, however, that I was in
the wrong to give way to melancholy, after experiencing so often that fortune
had never cast me down, but for the purpose of raising me up again; so that
my pitiful plight at the present moment, if rightly considered, was only to be
hailed as the harbinger of approaching prosperity.
276 GIL BLAS.
BOOK THE EIGHTH.
Cu. I1.—Gil Blas scrapes an acquaintance of some value, and finds wherewithal
to make him amends for the Count de Galiano’s ingratitude. Don Valerio de
Luna’s story.
Ir seemed so strange to have heard not a syllable from Nunez during this long
interval, that I concluded he must be in the country. I went to look after him
as soon as I could walk, and found the fact to be, that he had gone into Anda-
lusia three weeks ago, with the Duke of Medina Sidonia.
One morning when rubbing my eyes after a sound sleep, Melchior de la
Ronda started into my recollection; and that bringing to mind my promise at
Grenada, of going to see his nephew, if ever I should return to Madrid, it seemed
advisable not to defer fulfilling my promise for a single day. I inquired
where Don Balthazar de Zuniga lived, and went thither straightway. On ask-
ing if Signor Joseph Navarro was at home, he made his appearance immedi-
ately. We exchanged bows with a well-bred coolness on his part, though I
had taken care to announce my name audibly. There was no reconciling such
a frosty reception with the glowing portrait ascribed to this paragon of the
buttery. I was just going to withdraw in the full determination of not coming
again, when assuming all at once an open and smiling aspect, he said with con-
siderable earnestness: Ah! Signor Gil Blas de Santillane, pray forgive the
formality of your welcome. My memory ill seconded the warmth of my dispo-
sition towards you. Your name had escaped me, and was not at the moment
identified with the gentleman, of whom mention was made in a letter from
Grenada more than four months ago,
How happy I am to see you! added he, shaking hands with me most cor-
dially. My uncle Melchior, whom I love and honour like my natural father,
charges me, if by chance I should have the honour of seeing you, to entertain
you as his own son, and in case of need, to stretch my own credit and that of
my friends to the utmost in your behalf. He extols the qualities of your heart
and mind in terms sufficient of themselves to engage me in your service, though
his recommendation had not been added to the other motives. Consider me,
therefore, I entreat you, as aaieicy “nt: in all my uncle’s sentiments. You may
depend on my friendship ; let me hope for an equal share in yours.
I replied to Joseph’s polite assurances in suitable terms of acknowledgment ;
so that being both of us warm-hearted and sincere, a close intimacy sprung up
without waiting for common forms. I felt no embarrassment about laying open
the state of my affairs. This I had no sooner done, than he said: I take upon
myself the care of finding you a situation; meanwhile, there is a knife and fork
for you here every day. You will live rather better than at an ordinary. This
offer was sure to be well relished by an invalid just recovering with a fastidious
palate and an empty pocket. It could not but be accepted; and I picked up
my crumbs so fast that at the end of a fortnight I began to look like a rosy-gilled
son of the church. It struck me that Melchior’s nephew larded his lean sides
to some purpose. But how could it be otherwise? he had three strings to his
bow, as holding the undermentioned pluralities: the butler’s place, the clerk-
ship of the kitchen, and the stewardship. Furthermore, without meaning to
question my friend’s honesty, they do say that the comptroller of the household
and he looked over each other’s hands.
- My recovery was entirely confirmed, when my friend Joseph, on my coming
GIL BLAS IN THE SERVICE OF SIGNOR MONTESER. 277
in to dinner as usual one day, said with an air of congratulation: Signor Gil
Blas, I have a very tolerable situation in view for you. You must know that
the Duke of Lerma, first minister of the crown in Spain, giving himself up
entirely to state affairs, throws the burden of his own on two confidential per-
sons. Don Diego de Monteser takes the charge of collecting his rents, and
Don Rodrigo de Calderona superintends the finances of his household. These
two officers are paramount in their departments, having nothing to do with one
another. Don Diego has generally two deputies to transact the business; and
finding just now that one of them had been discharged, I have been canvassing
for you. Signor Monteser haying the greatest possible regard for me, granted
my request at once, on the strength of my testimony to your morals and capa-
city. We will pay our respects to him after dinner.
We did not miss our appointment. I was received with every mark of favour,
and promoted in the room of the dismissed deputy. My business consisted in
visiting the farms, in giving orders for the necessary repairs, in dunning the
farmers, and keeping them to time in their payments; in a word, the tenants
were all under my thumb, and Don Diego checked my accounts every month
with a minuteness which few receivers could have borne. But this was exactly
what I wanted. Though my uprightness had been so ill requited by my late
master, it was my only inheritance, and I was determined not to sell the
reversion,
One day news came that the castle of Lerma had taken fire, and was more
than half burnt down. I immediately went thither to estimate the loss. In-
forming myself to a nicety, and on the spot, respecting all the particulars of the
unlucky accident, I drew up a detailed narrative, which Monteser shewed to
the Duke of Lerma. That minister, though vexed at the circumstance, was
struck with the memorial, and inquired who was the author. Don Diego
thought it not enough to answer the question, but spoke of me in such high
terms, that his excellency recollected it six months afterwards, on occasion of
an incident I shall now relate, had it not been for which I might never, perhaps,
have been employed at court. It was as follows :—
There lived at that time in Princes Street an elderly lady, by name Inesilla
de Cantarilla. Her birth was a matter of mystery. Some said she was the
daughter of a musical instrument-maker, and others gave her a high military
extraction. However that might be, she was a very extraordinary personage.
Nature had gifted her with the singular talent of winning men’s hearts in defi-
ance of time, and in contradiction to her own laws; for she was now entering
upon the fourth quarter of her century. She had been the reigning toast of the
old court, and levied tribute on the passions of the new. Age, though at dag-
gers drawn with beauty, was completely foiled in its assault upon her charms ;
they might be somewhat faded, but the touch of sympathy they excited in their
decline was more pleasing that the vivid glow of their meridian lustre. An air
of dignity, a transporting wit and humour, an unborrowed grace in her deport-
ment, perpetuated the reign of passion, and silenced the suggestions of reason.
Don Valerio de Luna, one of the Duke of Lerma’s secretaries, a young fellow
of five-and-twenty, meeting with Inesilla, fell violently in love with her. He made
his sentiments known, enacted all the mummery of despair, and followed up the
usual catastrophe of every amorous drama so much according to the unities and
rules, that it was difficult, in the very torrent and whirlwind of his passion, to
beget a temperance that might give it smoothness. The lady, who had her
reason for not choosing to fall in with his humour, was at a loss how to get out
of the difficulty. One day she was in hopes to have found the means by calling
the young man into her closet, and there pointing to a clock upon the table.
Mark the precise hour, said she; just seventy-five years ago was I brought upon
278 GIL BLAS.
the stage of this fantastical world. In good earnest, would it sit well upon my
time of life to be engaged in affairs of gallantry? Betake yourself to reflection,
my good child; stifle sentiments so unsuitable to a9 own circumstances and —
mine. Sensible as this language was, the spark, no longer bowing to the
authority of reason, answered the lady with all the impetuosity of a man racked
by the most excruciating torments: Cruel Inesilla, why have you recourse to
such frivolous remonstrances? Do you think they can change your charms or
my desires? Delude not yourself with so false a hope. As long as your loveli-
ness or my delusion lasts, I shall never cease to adore you. Well, then, rejoined
she, since you are obstinate enough to persist in the resolution of wearying me
with your importunities, my doors shall henceforth be shut against you. You
are banished, and I beg to be no longer troubled with your company.
It may be supposed, perhaps, that after this, Don Valerio, baffled, made
good his retreat like a prudent general. Quite the reverse! He became more
troublesome than ever. Love is to lovers just what wine is to drunkards. The
swain intreated, sighed, looked, and sighed again ; when all at once, changing his
note from childish treble to the big manly voice of bluster and ravishment, he
swore that he would have by foul means what he could not obtain by fair. But
the lady, repulsing him courageously, said with a piercing look of strong re-
sentment, Hold, imprudent wretch !° I shall put a curb on your mad career,
Learn that you are my own son.
Don Valerio was thunderstruck at these words ; the tempest of his rage sub-
sided. But, conjecturing that Inesilla had only started this device to rid her-
self of his solicitations, he answered, That is a mere romance of the moment to
steal away from my ardent desires. No, no, said she, interrupting him, I dis-
close a mystery which should have been for ever buried, had you not reduced
me to so painful a necessity. It is six-and-twenty pa since I was in love with
your father, Don Pedro de Luna, then governor of Segovia ; you were the fruit
of our mutual passion: he owned you, brought you up with care and tender-
ness, and having no children born in wedlock, he had nothing to hinder him
from distinguishing your good qualities by the gifts of fortune. On my part, I
have not forsaken you ; as soon as you were of an age to be introduced into the
world, I drew you into the circle of my acquaintance, to form your manners to
that polish of good company, so necessary for a gentleman, which is only to be
gained in female society. I have done more: I have employed all my credit
to introduce you to the prime minister. In short, I have interested myself for
you as I should have done for my own son. After this confession, take your
measures accordingly. If you can purge your affections from their dross, and
look on me as a mother, you are not banished from my presence, and I shall
treat you with my accustomed tenderness. But if youare not equal to an effort,
which nature and reason demand from you, fly instantly, and release me from
the horror of beholding you,
Inesiila spoke to this effect. Meanwhile Don Valerio preserved a sudden
silence : it might have been interpreted into a virtuous struggle, a conquest over
the weakness of his heart. But his purposes were far different ; he had another
scene to act before his mother. Unable to withstand the total overthrow of all
his wild projects, he basely yielded to despair, Drawing his sword, he plunged
it in his own bosom. His fate resembled that of CEdipus, with this distinction ;
that the Theban put out his own eyes from remorse for the crime he had per-
petrated, while the Castilian, on the contrary, committed suicide from disap-
pointment at the frustration of his purposes.
The unhappy Don Valerio was not released from his sufferings immediately.
Iie had leisure left for recollection, and for making his peace with heaven, be-
fore he rushed into the presence of his Maker, Ashis death vacated one of the
-
GIL BLAS A SECRETARY TO THE PRIME MINISTER. 279
secretaryships on the Duke of Lerma’s establishment, that minister, not having
forgotten my memoir on the subject of the fire, nor the high character he had
heard of me, nominated me to succeed to the post in question.
Cu. I1.—Gil Blas is introduced to the Duke of Lerma, who admits him among
the number of his secretaries, and requires a specimen of his talents, with which
he is well satisfied.
MONTESER was the person to inform me of this agreeable circumstance, which
he did in the following terms : My friend Gil Blas, though I do not lose you
without regret, I am too much your well-wisher not to be delighted at your
promotion in the room of Don Valerio. You cannot fail to make a princely
fortune, provided you act upon two hints which I have to give you: the first,
to affect so total a devotion to his excellency’s good pleasure, as to leave
no room to conceive it possible that you have any other object or interest in life
—the second, to pay your court assiduously to Signor Don Rodrigo de Calde-
rona ; for that personage models and remodels, fashions and touches upon the
mind of his master, just as if it was clay under the hands of the designer. If you
are fortunate enough to chime in with that favourite secretary, you will travel
post to wealth and honour, and find relays upon the road.
Sir, said I to Don Diego, returning him thanks at the same time for his good
advice, be pleased to give some little opening to Don Rodrigo’s character. I
have heard a few anecdotes of him. One would suppose him, from some ac-
counts, not to be the best creature in the world ; but the people at large are
inveterate caricaturists when they draw courtiers at full length ; though, after all,
the likeness will strike, in spite of the aggravation. ‘Tell me, therefore, I be-
seech you, what is your own sincere opinion of Signor Calderona. That is
rather an awkward question, answered my principal with an ironical smile. I
should tell any one but yourself, without flinching, that he was a gentleman of
the strictest honour, upon whose fair fame the breath of calumny had never
dared to blow ; but I really cannot put off such a copy of my countenance upon
you. Relying as I do on your discretion, it becomes a duty to deal candidly in
the delineation of Don Rodrigo ; for without that, it would be playing fast and
loose with you to recommend the cultivation of his good-will.
You are to know then, that when his excellency was no more than plain Don
Francisco de Sandoval, this man had the humility to serve him as his lackey ;
since which time he has risen by degrees to the post of principal secretary. A
prouder excrescence of the dunghill never sprung into vegetation on a summer’s
day. He considers himself as the Duke of Lerma’s colleague ; and in point of
fact, he may truly be said to parcel out the loaves and fishes of administration,
since he gives away offices and governments at the suggestions of his own ca-
price. The public grumbles and growls upon occasion ; but who cares for the
grumbling and growling of the public? Let him steal a pair of gloves from the
prostitution of political honour, and the bronze upon his forehead will be proof
against the peltings of scandal. What I have said will decide your dealings
towards so supercilious a compound of dust and ashes. Yes, to be sure, said I ;
leave me alone for that. It will be strange indeed if I cannot wriggle myself
into his good graces. If one can but get on the blind side of a man who is to
be made a property, it must be want of skill in the player if the game is lost.
Exactly so, replied Monteser ; and now I will introduce you to the Duke of
Lerma.
We went at once to the minister, whom we found in his audience-chamber.
His levee was more crowded than the king’s. There were commanders and
knights of St James and of Calatrava, making interest for governments and
280 GIL _ BLAS.
viceroyalties ; bishops who, labouring under oppression of the breath and tight-
ness of the chest in their own dioceses, had been recommended the air of an
archbishopric by their physicians ; while the sounder lungs of lower digni-
taries were strong enough to inhale the Theban atmosphere of a suffragan see.
I observed besides some reduced officers dancing attendance to Captain Chin-
chilla’s tune, and catching cold in fishing for a pension, which was never likely
to pay the doctor for theircure. Ifthe duke did not satisfy their wants, he put
a.pleasant face upon their importunities ; and it struck me that he returned a
civil answer to all applicants.
We waited patiently till the routine of ceremony was despatched. Then said
Don Diego: My lord, this is Gil Blas de Santillane, the young man appointed
by your excellency to succeed Don Valerio. The duke now took more particu-
lar notice of me, saying obligingly, that I had already earned my promotion by
my services. He then took me to a private conference in his closet, or rather
to an examination. My birth, parentage, and course of life were the objects of
his inquiry ; nor would he be satisfied without the particulars, and those in the
spirit of sincerity. What a career to run over before a patron! Yet it was
impossible to lie, in the presence of a prime minister. On the other hand, my
vanity was concerned in suppressing so many circumstances, that there was no
venturing onan unqualified confession. What cunning scene had Roscius then
to act? A little painting and tattooing might decently be employed to disguise
the nakedness of truth, and spare her unsophisticated blushes. But he had
studied her complexion, as well as the beauties of her natural form, Monsieur
de Santillane, said he with a smile on the close of my narrative, I perceive that
hitherto you have had your principles to choose. My lord, answered I, colour-
ing up to the eyes, your excellency enjoined me to deal’sincerely.;.and I have
complied with your orders, I take your doing so in good part, replied he. It
is all very well, my good fellow : you have escaped from the snares of this wick-
ed world more by luck than management : it is wonderful that bad example
should not have corrupted you irreparably. ‘There are many men of strict virtue
and exemplary piety, who would have turned out the greatest rogues in existence,
if their destinies had exposed them to but half your trials.
Friend Santillane, continued the minister, ponder no longer on the past ; con-
sider yourself as to the very bone and marrow the king’s ; live henceforth but
for his service. Come this way ; I will instruct you in the nature of your busi-
ness. He carried me into a little closet adjoining his own, which contained a
score of thick folio registers. This is your workshop, said he. All these regis-
ters co e an alphabetical peerage, giving the heraldry and history of all the
nobility gentry in the several kingdoms and principalities of the Spanish
monarchy. In these volumes are recorded the services rendered to the state by
the present possessors and their ancestors, descending even to the personal ani-
mosities and rencounters of the individuals and their houses. Their fortunes,
their manners, in a word, all the pros and cons of their character are set down
according to the letter of ministerial scrutiny ; so that they no sooner enter
on the list of court candidates, that my eye catches up the very chapter
and verse of their pretensions. To furnish this necessary information, I
have pensioned scouts everywhere on the look-out, who send me private no-
tices of their discoveries ; but as these documents are for the most drawn
up in a gossiping and provincial styley they require to be translated into gentle-
manly language, or the king would not be able to support the perusal of the
registers. This task demands the pen of a polite and perspicuous writer ; 1
doubt not but you will justify your claim to the appointment.
After this introduction, he put a memorial into my hand, taken from a large
portfolio full of papers, and then withdrew from my closet, that my first speci-
! THE DUKE OF LERMA PLEASED WITH GIL BLAS. 281
men might be manufactured in all the freedom of solitude. I read the me-
morial, which was not only stuffed with a most uncouth jargon, but breathed
a brimstone spirit of rancour and personal revenge. This was most foul, strange,
and unnatural! for the homily was written by a monk. He hacked and hewed
a Catalan family of some note most unmercifully ; with what reason or truth,
it must be reserved for a more penetrating inquirer to decide. It read for all
the world like an infamous libel, and I had some scruples about becoming the
ublisher of the calumny; nevertheless, young as I was at court, I plunged
head foremost, at the risk of sinking and destroying his reverence’s soul. ‘The
wickedness, if there was any, would be put down to his running account with
the recording angel; I therefore had nothing to do but to vilify, in the purest
Spanish phraseology, some two or three generations of honest men and loyal
subjects.
I had already blackened four or five pages, when the duke, impatient to
know how I got on, came back and said—Santillane, shew me what you have
done; I am curious to see it. At the same time, casting his eye over the
transcript, he read the beginning with much attention. It seemed to please
him; strange that he could be so pleased! Prepossessed as I have been in
your favour, observed he, I must own that you have surpassed my expectations.
It is not merely the elegance and distinctness of the handwriting! There is
something animated and glowing in the composition. You will do ample
credit to my choice, and fully make up for the loss of your predecessor. e
would not have cut my panegyric so short, if his nephew the Count de Lemos
had not interrupted him in the middle of it. By the warmth and frequency of
his excellency’s welcome, it was evident that they were the best friends in the
world. They were immediately closeted together on some family business, of
which I shall speak in the sequel. The king’s affairs at this time were obliged
to play second to those of the minister.
While they were caballing it struck twelve. As I knew that the secretaries
and their clerks quitted office at that hour to go and dine wherever their busi-
ness and desire should point them, I left my prize performance behind me, and
went to the gayest tavern at the court end of the town, for I had nothing
further to do with Monteser, who had paid my salary, and taken his leave of
me. But a common eating-house would have been a very improper place for
me to be seen in. ‘Consider yourself as to the very bone and marrow the
king’s.” This metaphorical expression of the duke had given birth to a real
and tangible ambition in my soul, which put forth shoots like a plantation in a
fat and unvexed soil.
yk
Cu. IIl.—Al/ ts not gold that glitters. Some uneasiness resulting from the dis-
covery of that principle in philosophy, and its practical application to existing
circumstances,
I TOOK especial care, on my first entrance, to instil into the tavern-keeper’s
conception that I was secretary to the prime minister; nor was it easy, in that
view of my rank and consequence, to order anything sufficiently sumptuous for
dinner. To have selected from the bill of fare, might have looked as if I de-
scended to the meanness of calculation; I therefore told him to send up the
best the house afforded. My orders were punctually obeyed; and the anxious
assiduity of the attendance pampered my fancy as much as the dishes did my
palate. As to the bill, I had nothing to do with it but to pay it. Down went
a pistole upon the table, and the waiters pocketed the difference, which was
somewhat more than a quarter. After this display of grandeur I strutted out,
282 GIL BLAS.
practising those obstreperous clearings of the throat which announce, by empty
sound, the approach of a substantial coxcomb. ‘
There was at the distance of twenty yards a large house with lodgings to let,
principally frequented by foreign nobility. I rented at once a suite of apart-
ments, consisting of five or six rooms elegantly furnished. From my style of
living, any one would have thought I had two or three thousand ducats of
yearly income. The first month was paid in advance. Afterwards I returned
to business, and employed the whole afternoon in going on with what I had
begun in the morning. In a closet adjoining mine there were two other secre-
taries; but their office was only to copy out fair. I got acquainted with them
as we were shutting up for the evening; and, by way of smoothing the first
overtures towards friendship, invited them home with me to my tavern, where
I ordered the choicest delicacies of the season, with a profusion of the most ex-
quisite wines.
We sat down to table, and began bandying about more merriment than
wit ; for with all due deference to my guests, it was but too visible that they
owed their official situations to any circumstance rather than to their abilities,
They were adepts, it must be confessed, in all the history and mystery of
scrivening and clerkship; but as for polite literature and university education,
there was not even a suspicion of it in all their talk.
To make amends for that defect, they had a keen eye to the main chance ;
and though sensible how high an honour it was to be on the prime minister’s
establishment, there were some dashes of acid in the cup of good fortune. It
is now full five months, said one of them, that we have been serving at our own
cost. We do not touch one farthing of salary; and, what is worst of all, our
very board wages are shamefully in arrear. There is no knowing what footing
we are upon. As for me, said the other, I would willingly be tied up to the
halbert, and receive a per centage in lashes, for the liberty of changing my
berth ; but I dare-not either take myself off or petition for my discharge, after
having transcribed such state secrets as have passed under my inspection, I
might chance to become too well acquainted with the tower of Segovia or the
castle of Alicant.
How do you manage for a subsistence, then? said I. You must of course
have means of your own. These they represented as very slender; but that,
fortunately for them, they lodged with a kind-hearted widow, who boarded
them on tick, at the rate of a hundred pistoles a year for each. These anec-
dotes of a court life, not one of which escaped me, completely ventilated all the
rising fumes of pride. It could not be supposed that more consideration would
be shewn to me than to others, and consequently there was nothing to be so
puffed up with in my post; there seemed to be much cry and little wool, a dis-
covery which rendered it expedient to husband my finances with a narrower
economy. A picture like this was enough to cure my taste for treating. I re-
pented not having left these secretaries to find their own supper; for they
played a most cruel knife and fork at mine! and, when the bill was brought, I
squabbled with the landlord about the charges.
We parted at midnight; and the early breaking up was to be laid at my
door; for I did not propose another bottle. They went home to their widow,
and I withdrew to my magnificent lodgings, which I was now mad with myself
for having taken, and was fully determined to give up at the month’s end. My
bed of down was now converted into a couch of thorns; sleep had abandoned
his narcotic tenement, and sold the fee-simple of my repose to the demon of
eternal wakefulness, The remainder of the night was passed in contriving not
to serve the state too patriotically. For that purpose I bethought me of Mon-
teser’s good counsel. I got up with the intention of making my bow to Don
GIL BLAS PAYS COURT TO SIGNOR CALDERONA. 283
Rodrigo de Calderona. My present temper was just pat to the purpose of in-
gratiating myself with so high and mighty a gentleman; whose patronage was
indispensable to my existence. I therefore presented my person in that secre-
tary’s ante-chamber.
His apartments communicated with the duke’s, and rivalled them in the
lustre of their decorations. The field officer could scarcely be distinguished
from the subaltern by any outward distinction in his paraphernalia. I sent in
my name as Don Valerio’s successor ; but that did not hinder me from being
kept kicking my heels for a good hour. Trusty, but novice officer of the king,
said I, while ruminating on court manners, learn a lesson of patience, if so
please you. You must begin with shewing paces yourself, and afterwards
make others bite the bridle.
At length the door of the inner room opened. I went in, and advanced
towards Don Rodrigo, who had just been writing an amorous epistle to his
charming Siren, and was giving it to Pedrillo at that very moment. I had
never manufactured my face and air into such a counterfeit of reverence before
the Archbishop of Grenada, nor on my introduction to the Count de Galiano,
nor even in presence of the prime minister himself: the crisis of my fawning
was reserved for Signor de Calderona. I paid my respects to him with my
body bent down to the very ground, as if crouching under the ken of a superior
intelligence; and solicited his protection in strains of humble hypocrisy, at
which my cheek now burns with shame, to think that man can so debase him-
self before his fellow-man. My servility would have recoiled to my own un-
doing, had it been practised towards a compound of any manly and independent
ingredients. As for this fellow, he swallowed flattery by the lump without
mastication ; and assured me, just as if he meant what he said, that he would
leave no stone unturned to do me service.
Hereupon, thanking him with unlimited expressions of attachment for his
kind and generous sentiments, I sold my very soul and all my little stock of
conscience to his free disposal. But as this farce might be tiresome if prolonged,
I took my leave, apologizing for having broken in upon his more serious avo-
cations. As soon as I had finished this abominable scene, I slunk back to my
desk, where I finished my prescribed task. The duke was at my elbow the
next morning. ‘The end of my performance was not less to his mind than the
beginning; and he praised it accordingly: This is extremely well indeed!
Copy this abridgment in your best hand into the register of Catalonia. You
shall not want employment of this kind. I had a very long conversation with
his excellency, and was delighted at his mild and familiar deportment. What
a os to Calderona! They might have sat to a painter for Pan and
Apollo.
To-day I dined at a cheap ordinary, and sunk the secretary upon my mess-
mates, till I should ascertain what solid profit might accrue from all my bows
and scrapes. I had funds for three months, or thereabouts. That interval I
allowed myself for casting my bread upon the waters. But as the shortest
speculations are the safest, if my salary was not paid by that time, a long fare-
well to the court, its frippery, and its falsehood! Thus were my plans arranged.
For two months I laboured hard and. fast to stand well with Calderona: but
his senses were so callous to all my assiduity, that it seemed labour in vain to
build on so hopeless a foundation. This idea produced a change in my con-
duct. I left some greener fool to fumigate the nostrils of this idol; and placed
all my own dependence on making my ground sure with the duke, by the
benefit of our frequent conferences.
284 | GIL BLAS.
Cu. 1V.—Gil Blas becomes a favourite with the Duke of Lerma, and the
confidant of an important secret.
THOUGH his grace’s interviews with me were short as the fleeting visions of
supernatural communication, my turn and character won its way gradually into
his excellency’s good liking, One day after dinner, he said: Attend to me,
Gil Blas. I really like you very much. You are a zealous, confidential lad,
full of understanding and discretion. My trust cannot be misplaced in such
hands. I threw myself at his feet, at the music of these words ; and kissing
his outstretched hand, answered thus: Is it possible that your excellency can
think so favourably of your servant? What a host of enemies will such a pre-
ference conjure up against me! But Don Rodrigo is the only man whose privy
grudge is formidable enough to alarm me.
You have nothing to fear from that quarter, replied the duke. I know
Calderona. He has loved me from his cradle. Every movement of his heart
is in unison with mine. He cherishes whatever I love, and hates in exact pro-
portion to my dislike. So far from being alarmed at his ill-will, you ought, on
the contrary, to hug yourself on his peculiar partiality. This let me at once
into the abysses of Don fe aa character. e shuffled and cut the cards to
his own deal, and paid his debts of honour out of his excellency’s pool. One
could not be too wary with this gentleman.
To begin, pursued the duke, with a proof my thorough reliance on your
faith, I will open to you a long-projected design. It is necessary for you to be
informed of it, to qualify you for the commissions with which I shall hereafter
have occasion to intrust to you. Fora great length of time have I beheld my
authority universally respected, my decisions implicitly adopted, places, pensions,
governments, vice-royalties, and church preferments all awaiting my disposal.
Without umbrage to my royal master, I may be said to be absolute in Spain,
My individual fortunes can be pushed no higher. But I would willingly fix firm
the structure I have raised ; for the storms are already beginning to beat about
the citadel of my peace. My only safety must consist in nominating my
nephew, the Count de Lemos, as my successor in the ministry.
his profound courtier, observing my astonishment, went on thus. I see
plainly, Santillane, I see plainly what surprises you. It seems strange and
unaccountable that I should prefer my nephew to my own son, the Duke
d’Uzeda. But you are to learn that this last has too narrow a genius to fill up
my place in politics ; and there are other reasons why I set my face against him.
He has found out the secret of making himself agreeable to the king, who
wants him for his interior cabinet ; and back-stairs influence is what I cannot
bear. Royal favour is a sort of political mistress ; exclusive possession is its
only charm. The very existence of the passion is identified with inextinguishable
jealousy ; nor can we the better endure to share the bliss, because our rival has
been nursed in our own bosom.
Thus do I lay bare the very recesses of my soul. I have already tried to
ruin the Duke d’Uzeda with the king; but having failed, am pointing my
artillery towards another object. I am determined that the Count de Lemos
shall stand first with the Prince of Spain. Being gentleman of his bedchamber,
he has opportunities of talking with him continually ; and, besides that he has
a winning manner with him, I know a sure method of enabling him to succeed
in his enterprise. By this device, my nephew will be pitted against my son.
The cousins harbouring unfavourable suspicions of each other, will both be
forced to place themselves under my protection ; and the necessity of the case
will render them submissive to my will. This is my project ; nor will your
GIL BLAS AT COURT. 285
assistance be of slender avail to its success. It is you whom I shall make the
private channel of communication between the Count de Lemos and myself.
After this confidence, which sounded for all the world like the clink of current
coin, my mind was easy about the future. At length, said I, behold me taking
shelter under Plutus’s gutter; the golden shower may drench me to the skin, ©
before I shall cry hold, enough! It is impossible that the bosom friend of a
man, by whom the whole music of the political machine is tempered, should be
left to thrum upon the discord of poverty. Full of these harmonious visions,
my fifths and octaves were but little untuned by the sensible declension of my
purse.
Cu. V.—TZhe joys, the honours, and the miseries of a court life, in the person
of Gil Blas.
THE minister’s growing partiality towards me was soon noticed. He displayed
it ostentatiously, by committing his portfolio to my custody, which it was his
habit to carry in his own hand when he went to council. This novelty causing
me to be looked upon as a rising favourite, excited the envy of certain persons,
so that I was preciously sprinkled with the hellish dew of court malevolence.
My two neighbours the secretaries were not the last to compliment me on my
budding honours, and invited me to supper at the widow’s, not so much by way
of returning my hospitality, as with an eye to business in the cultivation of my
acquaintance, Parties were made for me everywhere. Even the haughty
Don Rodrigo was cap-in-hand to me. He now called me nothing less than
Signor de Santillane, though the moon had scarcely changed her face since he
theé’d and thou’d me, without ever bethinking him that he was talking to some-
thing above a pauper. He heaped me up and pressed me down with civilities,
especially within eyeshot of our common patron. But the fool was wiser than
to be caught with chaff. The good breeding of my returns was nicely propor-
tioned to my thorough detestation of my humble servant : a rascal who had
lived in court all his life could not have played the rascal better than I did.
I likewise accompanied my lord duke when he had an audience of the king,
which was usually three times a day. In the morning he went into his majesty’s
chamber as soon as he was awake. There he dropped down on his marrow-
bones by the bed-side, talked over what was to be done in the course of the
day, and put into the royal mouth the speeches the royal tongue was to make.
He then withdrew. After dinner he came back again; not for state affairs,
but for what, what? and a little gossip. He was well instructed in all the
tittle-tattle of Madrid, which was sold to him at the earliest of the season.
Lastly, in the evening he saw the king again for the third time, put whatever —
colour he pleased on the transactions of the day, and, as a matter of course,
requested his instructions for the morrow. While he was with the king, I kept
in the ante-chamber, where people of the first quality, sinking that they might
rise, threw themselves in the way of my observation, and thought the day not
lost if I had deigned to exchange a few words of common civility with them.
Was it to be wondered at, if my self-importance fattened upon such food ?
There are many folks at court, who stalk about on stilts of much frailer
materials.
One day my vanity was still more highly pampered. The king, to whom
the duke had puffed off my style, was curious to see a sample of it. His excel-
lency made me bring the register of Catalonia and myself into the royal pre-
sence; telling me to read the first memorial I had digested. If so catholic a
critic overpowered my modesty at first, the minister’s encouragement recalled
my scattered spirits, and I read with good tone and emphasis what his majesty
286 GIL BLAS.
deigned to hear with some symptoms of approbation. He spoke handsomely
of my performance, and recommended my fortunes to the special care of his
minister. My humility was not the greater for the augmentation of my conse-
quence; and a particular conversation somé days afterwards with the Count de
Lemos swelled high the spring tide of all my ambitious anticipations.
I waited on that nobleman from his uncle at the Prince of Spain’s court, and
presented credentials from the duke, directing him to deal unreservedly with
me, as with a man who was embarked in their design and selected by himself
exclusively as their go-between. The count then took me to a room, where he
locked the door, and then spoke as follows: Since you are confidential with
the Duke of Lerma, I doubt not you deserve to be so, and shall unbosom my-
self to you without hesitation. You are to know that matters go on just as we
could wish. ‘The Prince of Spain distinguishes me above the most assiduous of
his courtiers. I had a private conversation with him this morning, wherein he
expressed some disgust at being restrained by the king’s avarice from following
the inclinations of his liberal heart, and living on a scale befitting his august
rank, On this head I chimed in with his regrets ; and taking advantage of the
opportunity, promised to carry him a thousand pistoles early to-morrow morning,
as an earnest of larger sums with which I have engaged to feed his necessities
forthwith. He was in ecstasy at my promises; and I am certain of
his grace and favour in tail, if I can but fulfil my engagement. Acquaint my
uncle with these particulars, and come back in the evening with his sentiments
on the subject.
I left the Count de Lemos with the last words still quivering on his lips, and
went back to the Duke of Lerma, who, on my report, sent to ask Calderona
for a thousand pistoles, which he charged me to carry to the count in the evening.
Away went I on my errand, muttering to myself—So, so! now I have disco-
vered the minister’s infallible receipt for the cure of all evils. Faith and troth,
he is in the right; and to all appearance he may draw as copiously as he
pleases from the spring, without exhausting the source. I can easily guess what
bag those pistoles come from ; but after all, is it not the order of nature that the
perent should nurture and maintain the child? The Count de Lemos, at our
parting, said to me in a low voice—Farewell, my good and worthy friend. The
Prince of Spain has a little hankering after the women; we must have a little
conversation on that subject one of these days; I foresee that your agency will
be very applicable on that head. I returned with my head full of this last hint,
which it was impossible to misinterpret. Neither did I wish to do so, for it
suited my talents to a nicety. What the devil is to happen next? said I. Be-
hold me on the point of becoming pimp to the heir of the monarchy. Whether
pimping was a virtue or a vice, I did not stop to inquire: the coarse surtout
of morality would have worn but shabbily while the passions of so exalted a
gallant were in the glare and glow of all their newest gloss. What a promotion
for me to be the provider of pleasure to a great prince! Fair and softly, Mas-
ter Gil Blas, some one may say: after all, you will be but second minister.
May be so; but at bottom the honour of both these posts is equal; the differ-
ence lies in the profit only.
While executing these honourable commissions, and getting forward daily in
the good graces of the prime minister, what a happy being should I have been,
if statesmen were born with a set of intestines to turn the cameleon’s diet into
chyle! It was more than two months since I had got rid of my grand lodging,
and had taken up my quarters in a little room scarcely good enough for a bank-
er’s clerk, Though this was not quite as it should be, yet since I went out betimes
in the morning, and never returned at night before bed-time, there was not much
to quarrel about on that score. All day I was the hero of my own stage, or
GIL BLAS IN DISTRESSED CIRCUMSTANCES. 287
rather of the duke’s. It was a principal part that I was playing. But when I
retired from this brilliant theatre to my own cockloft, the great lord vanished,
and poor Gil Blas was left behind, without a royal image in his pocket, and what
was worse, without the means of conjuring up his glorious resemblance. Be-
sides that it would have wounded my pride to have divilged my necessities,
there was not a creature of my acquaintance who could have assisted me but
Navarro, and him I had too palpably neglected since my introduction at court,
to venture on soliciting his benevolence. I had been obliged to sell my ward-
robe article by article. There was nothing more left than was absolutely neces-
sary to make a decent appearance. I no longer went to the ordinary, because
I had no longer wherewithal to pay my score. How then did I make shift to
keep body and soul together? There was every morning, in our offices, a scanty
breakfast set out, consisting of a little bread and wine; this was the whole of
our commons on the minister’s establishment. I never knew what it was to
exceed this stint during the day, and at night I most frequently went supperless
to bed.
Such was the fare of a man who made a splendid figure at court; but his
illustrious fortunes, like those of other courtiers, were more a subject of pity than
of grudge. I could no longer resist the pressure of my circumstances, and ulti-
mately resolved on their disclosure at a seasonable opportunity. By good luck
such an occasion offered at the Escurial, whither the king and the Prince of
Spain removed some days afterwards.
Cu. VI.—Gil Blas gives the Duke of Lerma a hint of his wretched condition.
That minister deals with him accordingly.
WHEN the king kept his court at the Escurial, all the world was at free quarters:
under such easy circumstances I did not feel where the saddle galled. My bed
was in a wardrobe near the duke’s chamber. One morning that minister, having
got up according to his cursed custom at daybreak, made me take my writing
apparatus, and follow him into the palace gardens. We went and sat down
under an avenue of trees; myself, as he would have it, in the posture of a man
writing on the crown of his hat ; his attitude was with a paper in his hand, and
any one would have supposed he had been reading. At some distance, we
must have looked as if the scale of Europe was to turn upon our decision; but
between ourselves, who partook of it, the talk was miserably trifling.
For more than an hour had I been tickling his excellency’s fancy with all the
conceits, engendered by a merry nature and an eccentric course of life, when
two magpies perched on the trees above us. Their clack and clatter was so ob-
streperous, as to force our attention whether we would or no. These birds,
said the duke, seem to be in dudgeon with one another. I should like to learn
the cause of their quarrel. My lord, said I, your curiosity reminds me of an
Indian story in Pilpay or some other fabulist. The minister insisted on the
particulars, and I related them in the following terms :
There reigned in Persia a good monarch, who not being blessed with capaci-
ties of sufficient compass to govern his dominions in his own person, left the
care of them to his grand vizier. That minister, whose name was Atalmuc,
was possessed of first-rate talents. He supported the weight of that unwieldy
monarchy, without sinking under the burden. He preserved it in profound
peace, His art consisted in uniting the love of the royal authority with the
reverence of it; while the people at large looked up to the vizier as to an af-
fectionate father, though a devoted servant of his prince, Atalmuc had a young
Cachemirian among his secretaries, by name Zeangir, to whom he was particu-
larly attached. He took pleasure in his conversation, invited him frequently to
288 GIL BLAS.
to the chase, and opened to him his most secret thoughts. One day as they
were hunting together in a wood, the vizier, at the croaking of two ravens on a
tree, said to his secretary—I should like to know what those birds are talking
about in their jargon. My lord, answered the Cachemirian, your wishes may be
fulfilled. : Indeed! How so? replied Atalmuc. Because, rejoined Zeangir, a
dervise read in many mysteries, has taught me the language of birds. If you
wish it, I will lay my ear close to these, and will repeat to you word for word
whatever they may happen to say.
The vizier agreed to the proposal. The Cachemirian got near the ravens,
and affected to suck in their discourse. Then, returning to his master, My lord,
said he, would you believe it? We are ourselves the topic of their talk. Im-
possible! exclaimed the Persian minister. Prithee now, what do they say of
us? One of the two, replied the secretary, spoke thus: Here he is, the very
man; the grand vizier Atalmuc, the guardian eagle of Persia, hovering over her
like the parent bird over its nest, watching without intermission for the safety of
its brood, For the purpose of unbending from his wearisome toils, he is hunt-
ing in this wood with his faithful Zeangir, How happy must that secretary be,
to serve so partial and indulgent a master! Fair and softly, observed the other
raven shrewdly, fair and softly! Make not too much ae about that Cache-
mirian’s happiness. Atalmuc, it is true, talks and jokes familiarly with him,
honours him with his confidence, and may very possibly intend to signalize his
friendship by a lucrative post; but between the cup and the lip Zeangir may
perish with thirst. The poor devil lodges in a ready-furnished apartment,
where there is not an article of furniture for his use. Ina word, he leads a
starving life, with all the paraphernalia of a plump-fed courtier. The grand
vizier never troubles his head about inquiring into the right or wrong of his
affairs ; but satisfied with empty good wishes towards him, leaves his favourite
within the ruthless gripe of poverty.
I stopped here, to see how the Duke of Lerma would take it ; and he asked
me with a smile what effect the fable had produced on the mind of Atalmuc;
and whether the grand vizier had not felt a little offended at the secretary’s pre-
sumption. No, my noble lord, answered I, with some little embarrassment at
the question; historians say that his ingenuity was amply rewarded. He was
more lucky than discreet, replied the duke with a serious air; there are some
ministers who would esteem it no joke to be lectured at that rate. But the
king will not be long before he is getting up; my duty demands my attendance.
After this hint he walked off with hasty strides towards the palace without
throwing away a word more upon me, and to all appearance in high dudgeon
at my Indian parable.
I followed him up to the very door of his majesty’s chamber, and went thence
to arrange my papers in the places whence they had been taken. Then I en-
tered a closet where our two copying secretaries were at work; for they also
were of the migratory party. What is the matter with you, Signor de Santillane?
said they at the sight of me. You are quite down in the mouth! Has any-
thing untoward happened ?
I was too much mortified at the ill success of my narrative, to be cautious in
the expression of my grief. On the recital of what had passed with the duke,
they sympathized in my disappointment. You have some reason to fret, said
one of them. Heaven grant you may be better treated than a secretary of
Cardinal Spinosa, This unlucky secretary, tired of working for fifteen months
without pay, took the liberty of representing his necessities to his Eminence one
afternoon, and of asking for a little money towards his subsistence. It is very
proper, said the minister, that you should be paid. Here, pursued he, putting
into his hands an order on the royal treasury oe a thousand ducats; go and re-
GIL BLAS RECEIVES HIS SALARY. 289
ceive that sum; but take notice at the same time that it balances accounts be-
tween us. The secretary would have pocketed his thousand ducats without
remorse, had the thousand ducats been tangible, and the liberty of changing
services secure; but just as he stepped down from the cardinal’s threshold, he
was tapped on the shoulder by an alguazil, and carried away to the tower of
Segovia, where he has been a prisoner for a length of time.
This little historical anecdote set my teeth chattering. All was lost and gone!
There was no comfort from within nor from without! My own impatience had
been my ruin! just as if I had not borne starving, till patience could avail no
longer. Alas! said I, wherefore must I have blurted out that ill-starred fable,
which went so much against the grain of the minister? He might have been
just on the point of extricating me from all my miseries ; it might have been the
moment of that tide in the affairs of men, which sets in for sudden and enormous
elevation. What wealth, what honours have slipped through the fingers by my
blunder! I ought to have been aware that great folks do not love to be fore-
stalled, but require the common privileges of elementary subsistence to be re-
ceived as favours at their hands. It would have been more prudent to have
kept my lenten entertainment longer without bothering the duke about it, and
even to have died with hunger, that he might be blamed for letting me.
Supposing any hope to have remained, my master, when I saw him after din-
ner, put an extinguisher over it at once. He was very serious with me, con-
trary to his usual custom, and spoke scarcely at all; an omen of dire dismay for
the remainder of the evening. The night did not pass more tranquilly: the
chagrin of seeing my agreeable illusions vanish, and the fear of swelling the
calendar of state prisoners, left no room but for sighs and lamentations.
The following was the critical day. The duke sent for me in the morning.
I went into his chamber, with the ague fit of a criminal before his judge. San-
tillane, said he, showing me a paper in his hand, take this order... .. I shud-
dered at the word order, and said within myself: Oh heaven! here is the
Cardinal Spinosa over again; the carriage is ordered out for Segovia. Such
was my alarm at this moment, that I interrupted the minister, and throwing
myself at his feet, May it please your lordship, said I, bathed in tears, I most
humbly beseech your excellency to forgive me for my boldness ; necessity alone
impelled me to acquaint you with my wretched circumstances.
The duke could not help laughing at my distress. Be comforted, Gil Blas,
answered he, and hearken attentively. Though by betraying your necessities a
reproach lights upon me for not having prevented them, I do not take it ill, my
friend. I rather ought to beangry with myself for not having inquired how you
were going on. But to begin making amends for my want of attention, there is
an order on the royaltreasury for fifteen hundred ducats, payable at sight. This
is not all ; I promise you the same sum annually ; and moreover, when people
of rank and substance shall solicit your interest, I have no objection to your ad-
dressing me on their behalf.
In the excess of joy occasioned by such tidings, I kissed the feet of the minis-
ter, who, having commanded me to rise, continued in familiar conversation. I
endeavoured to rally my free and easy humour ; but the transition from sorrow
to rapture was too. instantaneous to be natural. I felt as comical as a culprit,
with a pardon singing in his ears, just when he was on the point of being launch-
ed into eternity. My master attributed all my flurry to the sole dread of having
offended him ; though the fear of perpetual imprisonment had its share of influence
on my nerves. He owned that he had affected to look cool, to see whether I
should be hurt at the alteration ; that thereby he formed his opinion with re-
spect to the liveliness of my attachment to his person, and that his own regard
for me would always be proportionate,
le
290 GIL BLAS.
Cu. VII.—A good use made of the fifteen hundred ducats. A first introduction
to the trade of office, and an account of the profit accruing therefrom.
THE king, as if on purpose to play into the hands of my impatience, returned
to Madrid the very next day. flew like a harpy to the royal treasury, where’
they paid me down upon the nail the sum drawn for in my order. Ambition
and vanity now obtained complete empire over my soul. My paltry lodging
was fit only for secretaries of an inferior cast, unpractised in the mysterious
language of birds ; for which reason, my grand suite of apartments fortunately
being vacant, I engaged them for the second time. My next business was to
send for an eminent tailor, who arrayed the pretty persons of all the fine gen-
tlemen in town. He took my measure, and then introduced me to a draper,
who sold me five ells of cloth, the exact quantity, as he said, to make a suit for |
aman of my size. Fiveells for a light Spanish dress ! Whither did this draper
and tailor expect to go?.... But we must not be uncharitable. Tailors who
have a reputation to support require more materials for the exercise of their
genius than the vulgar snippers of the shopboard. I then bought some linen,
of which I was very bare ; an assortment of silk stockings, and a laced hat.
With such an equipage, there was no doing without a footman ; so that I
desired Vincent Ferrero, my landlord, to look out for one. Most of the foreigners
who were recommended to his lodgings, on their arrival at Madrid, were wont
to hire Spanish servants ; and this was the means of turning his house into a
register office. The first who offered was a lad of so mortified and devotional
an aspect, that I would have nothing to say to him ; he put me in mind of Am-
brose de Lamela. Iam quite out of conceit, said I to Ferrero, with these pious
coat-brushers ; I have been taken in by them already.
I had scarcely turned virtue in a livery out of doors, when another came up-
stairs. This seemed to be a good sprightly fellow, with as little mock modesty
as if he had been bred at court, and a certain something about him which indi-
cated that he did not carry principle to any dangerous excess. He was just to
my mind. His answers to myquestions were pat and to the purpose : he evinced
a talent for intrigue beyond my most sanguine owe This was exactly the
subject for my purpose ; so I.fixed him at once. Neither had I any reason to
repent of my bargain ; for it was very soon evident that further off 1 must have
fared worse. As the duke had allowed me to solicit on behalf of my friends, and
it was my design to _— that permission to the utmost, a staunch hound was
necessary to put up the game ; or in phrase familiar to dull capacities, an active
chap, with a turn for routing out and bringing to my market all palm-tickling
petitioners for the loaves and fishes of the prime minister. This was just where
Scipio shone most ; for my servant’s name was Scipio. He had lived last with
Donna Anna de Guevara, the Prince of Spain’s nurse, where he had ample
scope for the exercise of that accomplishment.
As soon as he became acquainted with my credit at court and the use to
which I meant to put it, he took the field like his great ancestors, and began the
campaign without the loss of a day. Master, said he, a young gentleman of
Grenada is just come to Madrid ; his name is Don Roger de Rada. He has
been engaged in an affair of honour which compéls him to throw himself on the
Duke of Lerma’s protection, and he is well disposed to come down hand-
somely for any grace and favourhe may obtain. I have talked with him on the
subject. He had a mind to have made friends with Don Rodrigo de Calderona,
whose influence had been represented to him in magnificent terms: but I dis-
suaded him, by pointing out that secretary’s method of selling his good offices
for more than their weight in gold ; whereas, on the contrary, you would be
satisfied with any decent expression of gratitude for yours, and would even do
HISTORY OF DON ROGER DE RADA. 291
the business for the mere pleasure of we it, if you were in circumstances to
follow the bent of your own generous and disinterested temper. In short, I
talked to him in such a strain, that you will see the gentleman early to-morrow
morning. How is all this, Master Scipio? said I. You must have transacted
a great deal of business in a short time. You are no novice in back-stairs in- _
fluence. It is very strange that you have not feathered your own nest. ' That
ought not to surprise you at all, answered he. I love tomake money circulate ;
not to hoard it up.
Don Roger de Rada came according to his appointment. I received him
with a mixture of courtly plausibility and ministerial pride. My worthy sir,
said I, before I engage in your interests, I wish to know the nature of the affair
which brings you to court ; because it may be such as to preclude me from
speaking to the minister in your favour. Give me, therefore, if you please, the
particulars faithfully, and rest assured that I shall enter warmly into your in-
terests, if they are proper to be espoused by a man who moves in my sphere.
My young client promised to be sincere in his representation, and began his
narrative in the following words.
Cu. VIII.—Zistory of Don Roger de Rada.
Don ANASTASIO DE RADA, a gentleman of Grenada, was living happily in the
town of.Antequera, with Donna Estephania his wife, who united every charm
of person and mind with the most unquestionable virtue. If her affection was
lively towards her husband, his love for her was violent beyond all bounds. He
was naturally prone to jealousy ; and though wantonness could never assume
such a semblance as his wife’s, his thoughts were not quite at rest upon the sub-
ject. He was apprehensive lest some secret enemy to his repose might make
some attempt upon hishonour. His eye was turned askance upon all his friends,
except Don Huberto de Hordales, who frequented the house without suspicion
in quality of Estephania’s cousin, and was the only man in whom he ought not
to have confided.
Don Huberto did actually fall in love with his cousin, and ventured to make
his sentiments known, in contempt of consanguinity and the ties of friendship.
The lady, who was considerate, instead of making an outcry which might have
led to fatal consequences, reproved her kinsman gently, represented to him the
extreme criminality of attempting to seduce her and dishonour her husband,
and told him very seriously that he must not flatter himself with the most dis-
tant hope.
This moderation only inflamed the seducer’s appetite the more. Taking it
for granted that, as a woman who had been accustomed to save appearances,
she only wanted to be more strongly urged, he began to adopt little freedoms
of more warmth than delicacy ; and had the assurance one day to put the ques-
tion home to her. She repulsed him with unbridled indignation, and threat-
ened to refer the punishment of his offence to Don Anastasio, Her suitor,
alarmed at such an intimation, promised to drop the subject ; and Estephania
in the candour of her soul forgave him for the past.
Don Huberto, a man totally devoid of principle, could not feel his passion to
be foiled, without entertaining a mean spirit of revenge. He knew the weak
side of Don Anastasio’s temper. ‘This was enough to engender the blackest de-
sign that ever scoundrel plotted. One evening as he was walking alone with
this misguided husband, he said with an air of extreme uneasiness: My dear
friend, I can no longer live without unburdening my mind; and yet I would be
for ever silent, but that you value honour far above a treacherous repose.
Your acute feelings and my own, on Points which concern domestic injuries,
19 *
292 GIL BLAS.
forbid me to conceal what is passing in your family. Prepare to hear what will
occasion you as much grief as astonishment. I am going to wound you in the
tenderest
I know what you mean, interrupted Don Anastasio, in the first burst of agony;
our cousin is unfaithful. Ino eh acknowledge her for my cousin, replied
ordales with impassioned vehemence; I disown her, as unworthy to share my
friend’s embraces. This is keeping me too long upon the rack, exclaimed Don
Anastasio: say on, what has Estephania done? She has betrayed you, replied
Don Huberto. You havea rival to whom she listens in private, but I cannot
give you his name; for the adulterer, under favour of impenetrable darkness,
has escaped the ken of those who watched him. All I know is, that you are
duped : of that fact I am well assured. My own share in the disgrace is a suf-
ficent pledge of my veracity. Her infidelity must be palpable indeed, when I
turn Estephania’s accuser.
It is to no purpose, continued he, watching the successful impression of his
discourse, it is to no purpose to discuss the subject further. I perceive your in-
dignation at the treacherous requital of your love, and your thoughts all aiming
at a just revenge. Take your own course. Heed not in what relation to you
your victim may stand: but convince the whole city that there is no earthly
being whom you would not sacrifice to your honour.
Thus did the traitor exasperate a too credulous husband against an innocent
wife; depicting in such glowing colours the infamy in which he would be
plunged if he left the insult unpunished, as to heighten his anger into madness.
Behold Don Anastasio, with his mind completely overturned ; as if goaded by
the furies. He returned homewards with the frantic design of murdering his
ill-fated wife. She was just going to bed when he came in. He kept his pas
sion under for a time, and waited till the attendants had withdrawn. ‘Then,
unrestrained by the fear of vengeance from above, by the vulgar scorn which
must recoil upon an honourable family, by natural affection for his unborn child,
since his wife was near her time, he approached his victim, and said to her ina
furious tone of voice: Now is your hour to.die, wretch as you are! One mo-
ment only is your own, which my relenting pity leaves you to make your peace
with heaven. I would not that your soul should perish eternally, though your
earthly honour is for ever lost.
At these words he drew his dagger. Estephania, just speechless with terror,
throwing herself at his feet, besought him with uplifted hands and inarticulate
agony, to tell her why he raised his arm against her life. If he suspected her
fidelity, she called heaven to attest her innocence.
In vain, in vain, replied the infuriated murderer; your treason is but too well
proved. My information is not to be contradicted: Don Huberto..... Ah!
my lord, interrupted she with eager haste, you must hold your trust aloof from
Don Huberto. He is less your friend than you imagine. If he has said aught
against my virtue, believe him not. Restrain that infamous tongue, replied Don
Anastasio. By appealing against Hordales, you condemn yourself. You would
ruin your relation in my esteem, because he is acquainted with your misconduct.
You would invalidate his evidence against you; but the artifice is palpable, and
only whets my appetite for vengeance. My dear husband, rejoined the innocent
Estephania, while her tears flowed in torrents, beware of this blind rage. If
you follow its instigation, you will perpetrate a deed for which you will hate
yourself, when convinced of its injustice. In the name of heaven, compose your
disordered spirits. At least give me time to clear up your suspicions; you wi
then deal candidly by a wife who has nothing to reproach herself with,
Any other than Don Anastasio would have been touched by her pleadings,
and still more by her agonizing affliction; but the barbarian, far from being
HISTORY OF DON ROGER DE RADA. 293
softened, ordered the lady once again to recommend herself briefly to mercy,
and lifted his arm to strike the blow. Hold, inhuman as you are! cried she.
If your love for me is as if it had never been, if my lavish fondness in return is all
blotted from your memory, if my tears have no eloquence to disarm your hellish
purpose, have some pity on your own blood. Launch not your frantic hand
against an innocent, who has not yet breathed this vital air. You cannot be its
executioner without the curse of heaven and earth. As for myself, I can for-
give my murderer ; but the butcher of his own child, think deeply of it, must
pay the dreadful forfeit of so detestable a deed.
Determined as Don Anastasio was to pay no attention to anything Estephania
could say, he could not help being affected by the frightful images these last
words presented to his soul. Wherefore, as if apprehensive lest nature should
play the traitress to revenge, he hastened to make sure of his staggering resolves,
and plunged his dagger into her bosom. She fell motionless on the ground.
He thought her dead; and on that supposition left his house immediately to be
no more seen at Antequera.
In the mean time, the unhappy victim of groundless suspicion was so stunned
with the blow she had received, as to remain for a short interval on the ground
without any signs of life. Afterwards, coming to herself, she brought an old
female servant to her assistance by her plaints and lamentations. That good
old woman, beholding her mistress in so deplorable a state, waked the whole
household and even the neighbourhood by her cries. The room was soon filled
with spectators. Surgical assistance was sent for. The wound was probed,
and pronounced not to be mortal. Their opinion turned out to be correct ;
for Estephania soon recovered, and was in due time delivered of a son, not-
withstanding the cruel circumstances in which she had been placed. That
son, Signor Gil Blas, you behold in me: I am the fruit of that dreadful
pregnancy,
Women, when chaste as ice, when pure as snow, seldom escape calumny:
this plague, however, though virtue’s dowry, did not alight upon my mother.
The bloody scene passed in common fame for the transport of a jealous hus-
band. My father, it is true, bore the character of a passionate man, prone to
kindle into fury on the slightest occasion. Hordales could not but suppose that
his kinswoman must suspect him of having sown wild fancies in the mind of
Don Anastasio; so that he satisfied himself with this imperfect relish of revenge,
and ceased to importune her. But, not to be tedious, I shall pass over the
detail of my education. Suffice it to say, that my principal exercise was fencing,
which I practised regularly in the most famous schools of Grenada and Seville.
My mother waited with impatience till I was of age to measure swords with
Don Huberto, that she might instruct me in the grounds of her complaint
against him. In my eighteenth year she submitted her cause to my arbitre-
ment, not without floods of tears, and every symptom of the deepest anguish,
What must not a son feel, if he has the spirit and the heart of a son, at the
sight of a mother in such distressing circumstances? I went immediately and
called out Hordales; our place of meeting was private as it should be; we
fought long and furiously ; three of my thrusts took place, and I threw him to
the ground, like a dead dog despised.
Don Huberto, feeling his wound to be mortal, fixed his last looks upon me,
and declared that he met his death at my hands asa just punishment for his
treason against my mother’s honour. He owned that in revenge for the pangs
of despised love he had resolved on her ruin. Thus did he breathe his last,
imploring pardon from heaven, from Don Anastasio, from Estephania, and
from myself. I deemed it imprudent to return home and acquaint my mother
of the issue; fame was sure to perform that office for me. I passed the
294 GIL BLAS.
mountains, and repaired to Malaga, where I embarked on board a privateer.
My outside not altogether indicating cowardice, the captain consented at once
to enrol me among his crew.
We were not long before we went into action. Near the island of Alboutan,
a corsair of Millila fell in with us, on his return towards the African coast with a
Spanish vessel richly laden, taken off Carthagena, We attacked the African
briskly, and made ourselves masters of both ships, with eighty Christians on
board, going as slaves to Barbary. Afterwards, availing ourselves of a wind
direct for the coast of Grenada, we shortly arrived at Punta de Helena,
While we were inquiring into the birth-place and condition of our rescued
captives, a man about fifty, of prepossessing aspect, fell under my examination.
He stated himself, with a sigh, to belong to Antequera. My heart palpitated,
without my knowing why ; and my emotion, too strong to pass unnoticed, ex-_
cited a visible sympathy inhim. I avowed myself his townsman, and asked his
family name. Alas! answered he, your curiosity makes my sorrow flow afresh.
Eighteen years ago did I leave my home, where my remembrance is coupled
with scenes of blood and horror. You must yourself have heard but too much
of my story. My name is Don Anastasio de Rada. Merciful heaven! ex-
claimed I, may I believe my senses? And can this be Don Anastasio?
Father! What is it you say, young man? exclaimed he in his turn, with sur-
prise and agitation equal to my own. Are you that ill-fated infant, still in its
mother’s womb, when I sacrificed her to my fury? Yes, said I; none other did
the virtuous Estephania bring into the world, after the fatal night when you
left her weltering in her own blood.
Don Anastasio stifled my words in his embraces. For a quarter of an hour
we could only mingle our inarticulate sighs and exclamations. After exhausting
our tender recollections, and indulging in the wild expression of our feelings, my
father lifted his eyes to heaven, in gratitude for Estephania saved ; but the
next moment, as if doubtful of his bliss, he demanded by what evidence his
wife’s innocence had been cleared. Sir, answered I, none but yourself ever
doubted it. Her conduct has been uniformly spotless. You must be unde-
ceived. Know that Don Huberto was a traitor. In proof of this I unfolded
all bis perfidy, the vengeance I had taken, and his own confession before he
expired,
My father was less delighted at his liberty restored than at these happy
tidings. In the forgetfulness of ecstacy, he repeated all his former transports.
His approbation of me was ardent and entire. Come, my son, said he, let us
set out for Antequera. I burn with impatience to throw myself at the feet of a
wife whom I have treated so unworthily. Since you have brought me acquaint-
ed with my own injustice, my heart has been torn by remorse.
I was too eager to bring together a couple so near and dear to me, not to
expedite our journey as much as possible. I quitted the privateer, and with
my share of prize-money bought two mules at Adra, my father not choosing
again to incur the hazard of a voyage. He found leisure on the road to relate
his adventures, which I inclined to hear as seriously as did the Prince of
Ithaca the various recitals of the king his father. At length, after several days,
we halted at the foot of a mountain near Antequera. Wishing to reach home
privately, we went not into the town till midnight.
You may guess my mother’s astonishment at beholding a husband whom
she had thought for ever lost ; and the almost miraculous circumstances of his
restoration were a second source of wonder. He entreated forgiveness for his
barbarity with marks of repentance so lively, that she could not but be moved.
Instead of looking on him as a murderer, she only saw the man to whose will
high heaven had subjected her; such religion is there in the name of husband
THE EMOLUMENTS OF OFFICE. 295
to a virtuous wife! Estephania had been so alarmed about me, that my return
filled her with rapture. But her joy on this account was not without alleviation.
A sister of Hordales had instituted a criminal prosecution against her brother’s
antagonist. The search for me was hot, so that my mother, considering home
as insecure, was painfully anxious about me. It was therefore necessary to set
out that very night for court, whither I come to solicit my pardon, and hope to
obtain it by your generous intercession with the prime minister.
The gallant son of Don Anastasio thus closed his narrative; after which I
observed, with a self-sufficient physiognomy: It is well, Signor Don Roger;
the offence seems to me to be venial. I will undertake to lay the case before his
excellency, and may venture to promise you his protection. The thanks“myy]
client lavished would have passed in at one ear and out at the other, if they had
.not been backed by assurances of more substantial gratitude. But when once
that string was touched, every nerve and fibre of my frame vibrated in unison.
On the very same day did I relate the whole story to the duke, who alléwed
me to present the gentleman, and addressed him thus: Don Roger, I have
been informed of the duel which has brought you to court; Santillane has laid
all the particulars before me. Make yourself perfectly easy: you have done
nothing but what the circumstances of the case might almost warrant;
and it is especially on the ground of wounded honour, that his Majesty is best
pleased to extend his grace and favour. You must be committed for mere
form’s sake; but you may depend on it, your confinement shall be of short
duration. In Santillane you have a zealous friend, who will watch over your
interests, and hasten your release.
Don Roger paid his respectful acknowledgments to the minister, on whose
pledge he went and surrendered himself. His pardon was soon made out,
owing to my activity. In less than ten days, I sent this modern Telemachus
home, to say ‘‘how do you do?” to his Ulysses and Penelope; had he stood
upon the merits of his case without a protector, he might have whined out a
year’s imprisonment, and scarcely have got off at last. My commission was
but a poor hundred pistoles. It was no very magnificent haul; but I was not
as yet a Calderona, to turn up my nose at the small fry.
Cu. IX.—Gil Blas makes a large fortune in a short time, and behaves like other
wealthy upstarts.
THIs affair gave mea relish for my trade; and ten pistoles to Scipio by way
of brokerage, whetted his eagerness ta start more game of the same sort. I
have already done justice to his talents that way; he might as modestly have
appended ‘‘the great” to the tail of his name, as the most noted scoundrel of
antiquity. The second customer he brought me was a printer, who manu-
factured books of chivalry, and had made his fortune by waging war against
common sense. This printer had pirated a work belonging to a brother
printer, and his edition had been seized. For three hundred ducats I rescued
his copies out of jeopardy, and saved him from a heavy fine. Though this was
a transaction beneath the prime minister’s notice, his excellency condescended
at my request to interpose his authority. After the printer, a merchant passed
through my hands; the occasion was thus: A Portuguese vessel had been
taken by a Barbary corsair, and re-taken by a privateer from Cadiz. Two-
thirds of the cargo belonged to a merchant at Lisbon, who, having claimed his
due to no purpose, came to the court of Spain in search of a protector, with
sufficient credit to procure him restitution. I took up his cause, and he re-
covered his property, deducting the sum of four hundred pistoles, paid to me in
consideration of my disinterested zeal for justice.
296 GIL BLAS.
And now most surely the reader will call out to me at this place: Well said,
good master Santillane! Make hay while the sun shines. You are on the
high road to fortune; push forward, and outstrip your rivals. Oh! let me
alone for that. I spy, or my eyes deceive me, my servant coming in with a
new gull that he has just caught. Even so! It is my very Scipio. Let us
hear what he has to say. Sir, Sat he, give me leave to introduce this emi-
nent practitioner. He wants a licence to sell his drugs during the term of ten
years in all the towns of the Spanish monarchy, to the exclusion of all other
quacks; in short, a monopoly of poisons. In gratitude for this patent to thin
mankind, he will present the donor with a gratuity of two hundred pistoles. I
looked superciliously, like a patron, at the mountebank, and told him that his
business should be done. As lameness and leprosy would have it, in the course
of a few days I sent him on his progress through Spain, invested with full
powers to make the world his oyster, and leave nothing but the shell to his un-
patented competitors.
Besides that my avarice outran my accumulating wealth, I had obtained
the four boons just specified so easily from his grace, as not to be mealy-
mouthed about asking fora fifth. The town of Vera, on the coast of Grena-
da, wanted a governor; and a knight of Calatrava wanted the government,
for which he was willing to pay me one thousand pistoles. The minister
was ready to burst with laughing, to see me so eager after the scut. By all
the powers! my friend Gil Blas, said he, you go to work tooth and nail!
You have a most inveterate itch to do as you would be done by. But mark
me! When mere trifles stand between us, I shall not stand upon trifles;
but when governments or other places of real value are in question, you
will have the modesty to be content with half the fee for yourself, and will
account to me for the other half. It is inconceivable at what expense I
stand, and how it presses on my finances to support the dignity of my sta-
tion; for though disinterestedness looks vastly well in the eyes of the world,
you are to understand between ourselves that I have made a solemn vow
against dipping into my private fortune. On this hint, arrange your future
lans.
F My master, by this discourse, relieving me from the fear of being troublesome,
or rather egging me on to run at the ring for every prize, made me still more
worldly-minded, than ever I had been before. I should not have objected to
circulating hand-bills, with an invitation to all candidates for places to apply on
certain terms at the secretary’s office. My functions were here, Scipio’s were
there; and we met at the receipt of custom. My client got the government of
Vera for his thousand pistoles; and as our price was fixed, a knight of St
James met his brother of Calatrava in the market on an equal footing. But
mere governors were b rye fish to fry ; I distributed orders of knighthood, and
converted some good stupid burgesses into most insufferable gentry by one
stroke of the pen, and a lacing across the shoulders with a broad-sword. The
clergy, too, were not forgotten in my charities. Lesser preferments were in
my gift; everything up bal ne near stalls and collegiate dignities. With re-
gard to bishoprics and bishoprics, Don Rodrigo de Calderona had the
charge of our holy religion. As church and state must always go together,
supreme magistracies, commanderies, and viceroyalties were all in his gift;
whence the reader will naturally infer, that the upper offices were little better
tenanted than the lower ones; since, the subjects on whom our election fell,
establishing their pretensions on.a certain palpable criterion, were not neces-
sarily and unavoidably either the cleverest or the best-principled people in the
world. We knew very well that the wits and lampooners of Madrid made
themselves merry at our expense; but we borrowed our philosophy from
GIL BLAS KEEPS A SUMPTUOUS ESTABLISHMENT. 297
misers, who hug themselves under the hootings of the people, when they count
over the accumulation of their pelf.
Isocrates was in the right to insinuate, in his elegant Greek expression, that
what is got over the devil’s back is spent under his belly. When I saw myself
master of thirty thousand ducats, and in a fair way to gain perhaps ten times as
much, it seemed to be a necessary of office to make such a figure as became the
right hand of a prime minister. I took a house to myself, and furnished it in
the immediate taste. I bought an attorney’s carriage at second hand: he had&
set it up at the suggestion of vanity, and laid it down at the suggestion of his
banker. I hired a coachman and three footmen. Justice demands that old
and faithful servants should be promoted ; I therefore invested Scipio with the
threefold honour of valet-de-chambre, private secretary, and steward. But the
minister raised my pride to its highest pitch, for he was pleased to allow my
people to wear his livery. My poor little wits were now completely turned.
I was little more in my senses than the disciples of Porcius Latro, who, by
dint of drinking cummin, having made themselves as pale as their master,
thought themselves every whit as learned; so I could scarcely refrain from
fancying myself next of kin and presumptive heir to the’ Duke of Lerma him-
self. The populace might take me for his cousin, and people who knew
better, for one of his bastards; a suspicion most flattering to my pride of
blood.
Add to this, that after the example of his excellency, who kept a public
table, I determined to give parties of my own. Pursuant thereunto, I commis-
sioned Scipio to find:me out a professed cook, and he stumbled upon one who
might have dished up a dinner for Nomentanus, of dripping-pan notoriety. My
cellar was well stored with the choicest wines. My establishment being now
complete, I gave my house-warming. Every evening some of the clerks in the
public offices came to sup with me, and affected a sort of political high life be-
low-stairs. I did the honours hospitably, and always sent them home half seas
over. Like master like man! Scipio, too, had his parties in the servants’
hall, where he treated all his chums at my expense. But besides that I felt a
real kindness for that lad, he contributed to grease the wheels of my establish-
ment, and was entitled to have a finger in the dissipation. As a young man,
some little licence was allowable; and the ruinous consequences did not strike
me atthe time. Another reason, too, prevented me from taking notice of it;
incessant vacancies, ecclesiastical and secular, paid me amply in meal and in
malt. My surplus was increasing every day. Fortune’s curricle seemed to
have driven to my door, there to have broken down, and the driver to have
taken shelter with me.
One thing more was wanting to my complete intoxication, that Fabricio
might be witness to my pomp. He was most probably come back from Anda-
lusia. For the fun of surprising him, I sent an anonymous note, importing
that a Sicilian nobleman of his acquaintance would be glad of his company to
supper, with the day, hour, and place of appointment, which was at my house.
Nunez came, and was most inordinately astonished to recognize me in the
Sicilian nobleman. Yes, my friend, said I, behold the master of this family.
I have a retinue, a good table, and a strong box besides. Is it possible, ex-
claimed he with vivacity, that all this opulence should be yours? It was well
done in me to have placed you with Count Galiano. I told you beforehand
that he was a generous nobleman, and would not be long before he set you at
your ease. Of course you followed my wise advice, in giving the rein a little
more freely to your servants; you find the benefit of it. It is only by a little
mutual accommodation, that the principal officers in great houses feather their
nests so comfortably.
298 GIL BLAS.
I suffered Fabricio to go on as long as he liked, complimenting himself for
having introduced me to Count Galiano. When he had done, to chastise his
ecstasies at having procured me so good a post, I stated at full length the re-
turns of gratitude with which that nobleman had recompensed my services.
But, perceiving how ready my poet was to string his lyre to satire at my recital,
I i to him—The Sicilian’s contemptible conduct I readily forgive. Between
ourselves, it is more a subject of congratulation than of regret. If the count
had dealt honourably by me, I should have followed him into Sicily, where
I should still be in a subordinate capacity, waiting for dead men’s shoes.
In a word, I should not now have been hand in glove with the Duke of
Lerma.
. Nunez felt so strange a sensation at these last words, that he was tongue-tied
for some seconds. ‘Then gulping up his stammering accents like harlequin,
Did I hear aright? said he. What! you hand in glove with the prime minis-
ter. Ion one side, and Don Rodrigo de Calderona on the other, answered I ;
and according to all appearance, my fortunes will move higher. Truly, replied
he, this is admirable. You are cut out for every occasion. What an universal
genius! To borrow an expression from the tennis-court, you have a racket for
every ball; nothing comes amiss to you. At all events, my lord, I am sin-
cerely rejoiced at your lordship’s prosperity. The deuce and all, Master
Nunez! interrupted I; good now, dispense with your lords and lordships. Let
us banish such formalities, and live on equal terms together. You are in the
right, replied he; altered circumstances should not make strange faces. I will
own my weakness; when you announced your elevation you took away my
breath ; but the chill and the shudder are over, and I see only my old jfriend
Gil Blas.
Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of four or five clérks. Gen-
tlemen, said I, introducing Nunez, you are to sup with Signor Don Fabricio,
who writes verses of impenetrable sublimity, and such prose as would not know
itself in the glass. Uuluckily I was talking to gentry who would have had
more fellow-feeling with an Oran Outang than with a poet. They scarcely
condescended to look at him. In vain did he pun, parody, rally, or rail to hit
their fancies, for they had none. He was so nettled at their indifference, that
he assumed the poetic licence, and made his escape. Our clerks never missed
him, but forgot at once that he had been there.
Just as I was going out the next morning, the poet of the Asturias came into
my room. I beg pardon, said he, for having cut your clerks so abruptly last
night ; but, to deal freely, I was so much out of my element, that I should soon
have played old chaos withthem. Proud puppies, with their starch and self-im-
portant air! I cannot conceive how a clever fellow like you can sit it out with
such loutish guests. To-day I will bring you some of more life and spirit. I
shall be very much obliged to you, answered I ; your introduction is sufficient.
Exactly so, replied he. You shall have the feast of reason and the flow of soul.
I will go forthwith and invite them, for fear they should engage themselves
elsewhere ; for happy man be his dole who can get them to dinner or supper ;
they are such excellent company !
Away went he ; and in the.evening, at supper-time, returned with six authors
in his train, whom he presented one after another with a set speech in their
praise. According to his account, the wits of Greece and Italy were nothing in
comparison of these, whose works ought to be printed in letters of gold. I re-
ceived this deputation from the tuneful sisters very politely. My behaviour was
even in the extravagance of good breeding ; for the republic of authors is a little
monarchical in its demands upon our flattery. Though I had given Scipio no
express direction respecting the number of covers at this entertainment, yet
GIL BLAS ENTERTAINS A COMPANY OF AUTHORS. 299
knowing what a hungry and voluptuous race were to be crammed, he had mus-
tered the courses in more than their full complement.
At length supper was announced, and we fell to merrily. My poets began
talking of their poems and themselves. One fellow, with the most lyrical as-
surance, numbered up whole hosts of first-rate nobility and high-flying dames,
who were quite enraptured with his muse. Another, though it was not for him
to arraign the choice which a learned society had lately made of two new mem-
bers, could not help.saying that it was strange they should not have elected him.
All the rest were much in thesamestory. Amid theclatter of knives and forks,
my ears were more discordantly dinned with verses and harangues. They each
took it by turns to give me a specimen of their composition. One languishes*
out a sonnet ; another mouths a scene in a tragedy ; and a third reads a melan-
choly criticism on the province of comedy. The next in turn spouts an ode of
Anacreon, translated into most un-anacreontic Spanish verse. One of his
brethren interrupts him, to point out the unclassical use of a particular phrase.
The author of the version by no means acquiesces in the remark ; hence arises
an argument, in which all the literati take one side or the other. Opinions are
nearly balanced ; the disputants are nearly in a passion ; as argument weakens,
invective grows stronger ; they get from bad to worse ; over goes the table, and
up jump they to fisty-cuffs. Fabricio, Scipio, my coachman, my footman, and
myself, have scarcely lungs or strength to bring them to their senses. The mo-
ment the battle was over, off scampered they as if my house had been a tavern,
without the slightest apology for their ill behaviour.
Nunez, on whose word I had anticipated a very pleasant party, looked rather
blue at this conclusion. Well, my friend, said I, what do you think of your
literary acquaintance now? As sure as Apollo is on Parnassus, you brought me
a most blackguard set. .I will stick to my clerks ; so talk no more to me about
authors. I shall take care, answered he, not to invite any of them to a gentle-
man’s house again ; for these are the most select and well-mannered of the
tribe.
Cu. X.—The morals of Gil Blas become at court much as if they had never been
atall. A commission from the Count de Lemos, which, like most court com-
missions, iniplies an intrigue. ,
WHEN once my name was up for a man after the Duke of Lerma’s own heart,
I had very soon my court about me. Every morning was my ante-chamber
crowded with company, and my levees were all the fashion. Two sorts of cus-
tomers came to my shop ; one set, to engage my interposition with the minister,
on fair commercial principles ; the other set, to excite my compassion by pa-
thetic statements of their cases, and give me a lift to heaven on the packhorse
of charity. The first were sure of being heard patiently and served diligently ;
with regard to the second order, I got rid of them at once by plausible evasions,
or kept them dangling till they wore their patience threadbare, and went off in
a huff. Before I was about the court my nature was compassionate and chari-
table ; but tenderness of heart is an unfashionable frailty there, and mine became
harder than any flint. Here was an admirable school to correct the romantic
sensibilities of friendship : nor was my philosophy any longer assailable in that
quarter. My manner of dealing with Joseph Navarro, under the following cir-
cumstances, will prove more than volumes on that head.
This Navarro, the founder of my fortune, to whom my obligations were thick
and threefold, paid mea visit one day. With the warmest expressions of regard
such as he was in the habit of lavishing, he begged me to ask the Duke of
Lerma for a certain situation for one of his friends, a young man of excellent
300 GIL BLAS.
qualities and undoubted merit, but incumbered with an inability of getting on
in the world. I am well assured, added Joseph, that with your good and
obliging disposition, you will be enraptured to confer a favour on a worthy man
with a very slender purse ; I am sure you will feel obliged to me for giving you
an opportunity of carrying your benevolent inclinations into effect. This was
just as good as telling me that the business was to be done for nothing.
Though such doctrine was not quite level to my capacity, I still affected a wish
to do as he desired. It gives me infinite pleasure, answered I to Navarro, to
have it in my power to evince my lively sense of all your former kindness to
me. It is enough for you to take any man living by the hand ; from that mo-
ment he becomes the object of my unwearied care. Your friend shall have the
situation you want for him ; nay, he has it already: it is no longer any concern
of yours ; leave it entirely to me.
On this assurance Joseph went away in high glee ; nevertheless, the person
he recommended had not the post in question, It was given to another man,
and my strong box was the stronger by a thousand ducats. This sum was in-
finitely preferable to all the thanks in the world, so that I looked pitifully blank
when next we met, saying—Ah, my dear Navarro! you should have thought of
speaking to me sooner. That Calderona got the start of me; he has given
away a certain thing that shall be nameless, I am vexed to the soul not to
meet you with better tidings.
Joseph was fool enough to give me credit, and we parted better friends than
ever ; but I suspect that he soon found out the truth, for he never came near
me again, This was just what I wanted. Besides that the memory of benefits
received grated harshly, it would not have been at all the thing for a person in
my then sphere to keep company with a certain description of people.
The Count de Lemos has been long in the background, let us bring him a
little forwarder on the canvas. We met occasionally. I had carried him a
thousand pistoles, as the reader will recollect ; and I now carried him a thou-
sand more, by order of his uncle the duke, out of his excellency’s funds lying in
my hands. On this occasion the Count de Lemos honoured me with a long
conference. He informed me that at length he had completely gained his end,
and was in unrivalled possession of the Prince of Spain’s good graces, whose
sole confidant he was. His next concern was to invest me witha right honour-
able commission, of which he had already given me a hint. Friend Santillane,
said he, now is the time to strike while the iron is hot. Spare no pains to find
out some young beauty, worthy to while away the prince’s amorous hours. You
have your wits about you ; and a word to the wise is sufficient. Go ; run‘about
the town ; pry into every hole and corner ; and when you have pounced upon
anything likely to suit, you will come and let me know. I promised the count
to leave no stone unturned in the due discharge of my employment, which
seemed to require no great force of genius, since the professors of the science
are sO numerous,
I had not hitherto been much practised in such delicate investigations, but it
was more than probable that vA 90 had, and that his talent lay peculiarly that
way. On my return home I called him in, and spoke thus to him in private :
My good fellow, I have a very important secret to impart. Do you know that in
the midst of fortune’s favours, there is something still wanting to crown all my
wishes ?. I can’easily guess what that is, interrupted he, without giving me time
to finish what I was going to say ; you want a little snug bit of contraband
amusement, to keep you awake of evenings, and rub off the dust of business.
And, in fact, it is a marvellous thing that you should have played thé Joseph in
the heyday of your blood, when so many greybeards Rat you are playing the
Elder. I admire the quickness of your apprehension, replied I with a smile.
ae
GIL BLAS INTRODUCED TO CATALINA. 301
Yes, my friend, a mistress is that something still wanting ; and you shall choose
forme. But I forewarn you that I am nice hungry, and must have a pretty
person, with more than passable manners. The sort of thing that you require,
returned Scipio, is not always to be met with in the market. Yet, as luck will
have it, we are in a town where everything is to be got for money, and I am in
hopes that your commission will not hang long on hand.
Accordingly within three days he pulled me by the sleeve: I have discovered
a treasure! a young lady whose name is Catalina, of good family and match-
less beauty, living with her aunt in a small house, where they make both ends
meet by clubbing their little matters, and set the slanderous world at defiance.
Their waiting-maid, a girl of my acquaintance, has given me to understand that
their door, though barred against all impertinent intruders, would turn upon its
hinges to a rich and generous suitor, if he would only consent, for fear of prying
neighbours, not to pay his visits till after night-fall, and then in the most private
manner possible. Hereupon I magnified you as the properest gentleman in
the world, and intreated piety in pattens to offer your humble services to the
ladies. She promised to do so, and to bring me back my answer to-morrow
morning at an appointed place. That is all very well, answered I; but I am
afraid your goddess of bed-making has been running her rig upon you. No,
no, replied he, old birdsare not tobe caught with chaff; I have already made in-
quiry in the neighbourhood, and by the general report of her, Signora Catalina
is a second Danae, on whom you will have the happiness of coming down,
Like Jove descending from his tower,
To court her in a silver shower,
Out of conceit as I was with the intrinsic value of ladies’ favours, this was not
to be scoffed at; and as our Mercury in petticoats came the next day to tell
Scipio that it only depended on me to be introduced that very evening, I drop-
ped in between eleven and twelve o’clock. The knowing one received me
without bringing a candle, and led me by the hand into a very neat apart-
ment, where the two ladies were sitting on a satin sofa, dressed in themost elegant
taste. As soon as they saw me enter, they got up and welcomed me in a style
of such superior breeding, as would not have disgraced the highest rank. The
aunt, whose name was Signora Mencia, though with the remains of beauty, had
no attractions forme. But the niece had a million, for she was a goddess in
mortal form, And yet, to examine her critically, she coul-1 not have been ad-
mitted for a re beauty; but then there was a charm above all rules of
symmetry, with a tingling and luxurious warmth about her, that seized on men’s *
hearts through their eyes, and prevented their brains from being too busy.
Neither were my senses proof against so dazzling a display. I forgot my
errand as proxy, and spoke on my own private individual account, with the en
thusiasm of a raw recruit in the tender passion. The dear little creature, whose
wit sounded in my ears with three times its actual acuteness, under favour of her
natural endowments, made a complete conquest of me by her prattle. I began
to launch out into foolish raptures, when the aunt, to bring me to my bearings,
led the conversation to the point in hand: Signor de Santillane, I shall deal
very explicitly with you. On the high encomiums I have heard of your charac-
ter, you have been admitted here, without the affectation of making much ado
about trifles ; but do not imagine that your views are the nearer their termina-
tion for that. Hitherto I have brought my niece up in retirement, and you are,
as it were, the very first male creature on whom she has ever set eyes. If you
deem her worthy of being your wife, I shall feel myself highly honoured by the
alliance: it is for you to consider whether those terms suit you; but you cannot
have her on cheaper.
302 | GIL BLAS.
This was proceeding to business with a vengeance! It put little Cupid to
flight at once: or else he was just going to try one of his sharpest arrows upon
me. But a truce with the Pantheon! A marriage so bluntly proposed dis-
pelled the fairy vision: I sunk back at once into the count’s plodding agent ;
and changing my tone, answered Signora Mencia thus: Madam, your frankness
delights me, and I will meet it half-way. Whatever rank I may hold at court,
lower than the highest is too low for the peerless Catalina. A far more brilliant
offer waits her acceptance; the Prince of Spain shall be thrown into her toils.
Surely it was enough to have refused my niece, replied the aunt sarcastically ;
such compliments are sufficiently unpleasing to our sex; it could not be neces-
sary to make us your unfeeling sport. I really am not in so merry a mood,
madam! exclaimed I: it is a plain matter of fact; I am commissioned to look
out for a young lady of merit sufficient to engage the prince’s heart, and receive
his private visits ; the object of my search is in your house, and here his royal
highness shall fix his quarters.
Signora Mencia oman scarcely believe her ears; neither were they grievously
offended. Nevertheless, thinking it decent to be startled at the immorality of
the proceeding, she replied to the following effect : Though I should give im-
plicit credit to what you tell me, you must understand that I am not of a cha-
racter to take pleasure in the infamous distinction of seeing my niece a prince’s
concubine. Every feeling of virtue and of honour revolts at the idea... . What
a simpleton you are with your virtue and honour! interrupted I. You have
not a notion above the level of a tradesman’s wife. Was there ever anything so
stupid as to consider affairs of this kind with a view to their moral tendency?
It is stripping them of all their beauty and excellence. In the magic lanthorn
of plenty, pleasure, and preferment, they appear with all their .brightest gloss.
Figure to yourself the heir to the monarchy at the happy Catalina’s feet; fancy
him all rapture and lavish bounty; nor doubt but that from her shall spring a
hero, who shall immortalize his mother’s name, by enrolling his own in the un-
perishable records of eternal fame.
Though the aunt desired no better sport than to take me at my word, she af-
fected not to know what she had best do; and Catalina, who longed to have a
grapple with the Prince of Spain, affected not to care about the matter; which
made it necessary for me to press the siege closer; till at length Signora Men-
cia, finding me chop-fallen and ready to withdraw my forces, sounded a parley,
and agreed to a convention, containing the two following articles. /mprimis, if
the Prince of Spain, on the fame of Catalina’s charms, should take fire, and de-
-.termine to pay her a nightly visit, it should be my care to let the ladies know
when they might expect him. Secondo, that the prince should be introduced to
the said ladies as a private gentleman, accompanied only by himself and his
principal purveyor.
After this capitulation, the aunt and niece were upon the best terms possible
with me: they behaved as if we had known one another from our cradles; on
the strength of which I ventured on some little familiarities, which were not
taken at all unkindly ; and when we parted, they embraced me of their own ac-
cord, and slabbered me over with inexpressible fondness. It is marvellous to
think.with what facility a tender connection is formed between persons in the
same line of trade, but of opposite sexes. It might have been suspected by an
eye-witness of my departure, in all the plenitude of warm and repeated saluta-
tion, that my visit had been more successful than it was.
The Count de Lemos was highly delighted when I announced the long-ex-
pected discovery. I spoke of Catalina in terms which made him long to see
her. The following night I took him to her house, and he owned that I had
beat the bush to some purpose. He told the ladies, he had no doubt but the
THE DURE OF LERMA COMPLIMENTS GIL BLAS. — 363
Prince of Spain would be fully satisfied with my choice of a mistress, who, on
her part, would have reason to be well pleased with such a lover; that the
oung prince was generous, good-tempered, and amiable; in short, he promised
in a few days to bring him in the mode they enjoined, without retinue or pub-;
licity. That nobleman then took leave of them, and I withdrew with him. We
got into his carriage, in which we had both driven thither, and which was wait-;
ing at the end of the street. He set me down at my own door, with a special
charge to inform his uncle next day of the new game started, not forgetting to
impress strongly how conducive a good bag of pistoles would be to the success-
ful accomplishment of the adventure. |
I did not fail on the following morning to go and give the Duke of Lerma an
exact account of all that had passed. ‘There was but one thing kept back. I
did not mention Scipio’s name, but took credit to myself for the discovery of
Catalina. One makes a merit of any dirty work in the service of the great.
Abundant were the compliments paid me on this occasion. My good friend
Gil Blas, said the minister with a bantering air, I am delighted that with all your
talents you have that besides of discovering kind-hearted beauties ; whenever I.
have occasion for such an article, you will have the goodness to supplyme. My
lord, answered I with mock gravity like his own, you are very obliging to give.
me the preference ; but it may not be unseasonable to observe that there would be
an indelicacy in ‘my administering to your excellency’s pleasures of this descrip-
tion. Signor Don Rodrigo has been so long in possession of that post about
your person, that it would be manifest injustice to rob him of it. The duke
smiled at my answer ; and then changing the subject, asked whether his nephew
did not want money for this new speculation. Excuse my negligence! said I ;
he will thank you to send him a thousand pistoles. Well and good! replied
the minister ; you will furnish him accordingly, with my strict injunction not to
be niggardly, but to encourage the prince in whatever pleasurable expenses his
heart may prompt him to indulge.
Cu. XI.—TZhe Prince of Spain’s secret visit, and presents to Catalina.
I WENT to the Count de Lemos on the spur of the occasion, with five hun-
dred double pistoles in my hand. You could not have come at a better time,
said that nobleman. I have been talking with the prince; he has taken the
bait, and burns with impatience to see Catalina. This very night he intends to
slip privately out of the palace, and pay her a visit ; it is a measure determined
on, and our arrangements are already made. Give notice to the ladies, through
the medium of the cash you have just brought ; it is proper to let them know
they have no ordinary lover to receive ; and a matter of course that generosity
in princes should be the herald of their partialities. As you will be of our party,
take care to be in the way at bed-time : and as your carriage will be wanted,
let it wait near the palace about midnight.
I immediately repaired to the ladies. Catalina was not visible, having just
gone to liedown, I could only speak with Signora Mencia. Madam, said I,
forgive my appearance here in the day-time, but there was no avoiding it ; you
must know that the Prince of Spain will be with you to-night ; and here, added
I, putting my pecuniary credentials into her hand, here is an offering which he
lays on the Cytherean sHrine, to propitiate the divinities of the temple. You
may perceive, I have not entangled you in a sleeveless concern. You have been
excessively kind indeed, answered she ; but tell me, Signor de Santillane, does
the prince love music? To distraction, replied I. There is nothing he so much
delights in as a fine voice, with a delicate lute accompaniment. So much the
better, exclaimed she in a transport of joy ; you give me great pleasure by say-
304 | GIL BLAS.
ing so ; for my niece has the pipe of a nightingale, and plays exquisitely on the
lute : then her dancing is in the finest style! Heavens and earth! exclaimed I
in my turn, here are accomplishments by wholesale, aunt ; more than enough
to make any girl’s fortune! Any one of those talents would have been a suf-
ficient dowry. |
Having thus smoothed his reception, I waited for the prince’s bed-time.
When it was near at hand, I gave my coachman his orders, and went to the
Count de Lemos, who told me that the prince, the sooner to get rid of the
people about him, meant to feign a slight indisposition, and even to go to bed,
the better to cajole his attendants ; but that he would get up an hour after-
wards, and go through a private door to a back staircase leading into the
court-yard,
Conformably with their previous arrangements, he fixed my station. There
had I to beat the hoof so long, that I began to ar he our forward sprig of
royalty had gone another way, or else had changed his mind about Catalina ;
just as if princes ever began to be fickle, till the goad of novelty and curiosity
egan to be blunted. In short, I thought they had forgotten me, when two
men came up. Finding them to be my party, I led the way to my carriage,
into which thay both got, and I upon the coach-box to direct the driver, whom
I stopped fifty yards from the house, whither we walked. The door opened at
our approach, and shut again as soon as we got in.
At first we were in absolute darkness, as on my former visit, though a small
lamp was fixed to the wall on the present occasion. But the light which it
shed was so faint, as only to render itself visible without assisting us. All this
served only to heighten the romance in the fancy of its hero, fixed as he was in
steadfast gaze at the sight of. the ladies as they received him in a saloon whose
brilliant illumination was more dazzling, when contrasted with the gloom of
the avenue. The aunt and niece were in a tempting undress, where the science
of coquetry was displayed in all its luxury and absolute sway. Our prince
could have been happy with Signora Mencia, had the dear charmer Catalina
been away ; but as there was a choice, the younger, according to the rules of
precedency in the court of Cupid, had the preference.
Well! prince, said the Count de Lemos, could you have desired a better
specimen of beauty? They are both enchanting, answered the prince, and my
heart may as well surrender at once ; for the aunt would arrest it in its flight, if
it attempted to sound a retreat from the niece’s all-subduing charms.
After such compliments, as do not fall by wholesale to the share of aunts, he
addressed his choicest terms of flattery to Catalina, who answered him in kind,
As convenient personages of my stamp are allowed to mingle in the conversation
of lovers, for the purpose of making fire hotter, I introduced the subject of
singing and playing on the lute. This was the signal of fresh rapture ! and the
nymph, the muse, the anything but mortal, was supplicated to outtune the
jingle of the spheres. She complied like a good-humoured goddess ; played
some tender airs, and sung so deliciously, that the prince flopped down on his
knees in a tumult of love and pleasure. But scenes like these are vapid in
description : suffice it to say that hours glided away like moments in this sweet
delirium, till the approach of day warned the sober plotters of the lunacy to
provide for their patient’s safety, and their own. When the parties were all
snugly housed, we gave ourselves as much credit for the negotiation as if we
had patched up a marriage with a princess.
The next morning the Duke of Lerma desired to know all the particulars,
{uses I had finished relating them, the Count de Lemos came in and said—The
ce of Spain is so engrossed by Catalina ; he has taken so decided a fancy to
her, that he actually proposes to be constant. He wanted to have sent her
THE PRINCE CHARMED WITH CATALINA. 305
jewels to the amount of two thousand pistoles to-day, but his finances were
und, My dear Lemos, said he, addressing himself to me, you must abso-
lutely get me thatsum. I knowit is veryinconvenient ; you have pawned your
credit for me already, but my heart owns itself your debtor ; and if ever I have
the means of returning your kindness by more than empty words, your fortunes
shall not suffer by your complaisance. In answer, I assured him that I had
friends and credit, and promised to bring him what he wanted.
There is no difficulty about that, said the duke to his nephew. Santillane
will bring you the money ; or, to save trouble, he may purchase the jewels, for
he is an admirable judge, especially of rubies, Are you not, Gil Blas? This
stroke of satire was of course designed to entertain the count at my expense, and
it was successful, for his curiosity could not but be excited to know the meaning
of the mystery. -No mystery at all, replied his uncle witha broad laugh. Only
Santillane took it into his head one day to exchange a diamond for a ruby, and
the barter operated equally to the advantage of his pocket and his penetration.
Had the minister stopped there, I should have come off cheaply ; but he
took the trouble of dressing out in aggravated colours the trick that Camilla and
Don Raphael played me, with a most provoking enlargement of the circum-
stances most to the disadvantage of my sagacity. His excellency having enjoyed
his joke, ordered me to attend the Count de Lemos to a jeweller’s, where we
selected trinkets for the Prince of Spain’s inspection, and they were intrusted to
my care to be delivered to Catalina.
There can be little doubt of my kind reception on the following night, when
I displayed a fine pair of drop ear-rings, as the presents of my embassy. The
two ladies, out of their wits at these costly tokens of the prince’s love, suffered
their tongues to run into a gossiping strain, while they were thanking me for
introducing them into such worshipful society, In the excess of their joy, they
forgot themselves a little. There escaped now and then certain peculiar idioms
of speech, which made me suspect that the party in question. was no such dainty
morsel for royalty to feed upon. To ascertain precisely what degree of obliga-
tion I had conferred on the heir-apparent, I took my leave with the intention
of coming to a right understanding with Scipio.
Cu. XII.—Catalina’s real condition a worry and alarm to Gil Blas. His
precautions for his own ease and quiet.
ON coming home, I heard a devil of a noise, and inquired what was the
meaning of it. They told me that Scipio was giving a supper to half-a-dozen
of his friends. They were singing as loud as their lungs could roar, and threat-
ening the stability of the house with their protracted peals of laughter. This
meal was not in all respects the banquet of the seven wise men.
The founder of the feast, informed of my arrival, said to his company: Sit
still, gentlemen, it is only the master of the house come home, but that need
not disturb you. Go on with your merry-making ; I will but just whisper a
word in his ear, and be back again ina moment. He came to me accordingly.
What an infernal din! said I. What sort of company do you keep below ?
Have you, too, got in among the poets? Thank you for nothing ! answered he.
Your wine is too good to be given to such gentry ; I turn it to better account.
There is a young man of large property in my party, who wishes to lay out
your credit and his own money in the purchase of a place. This little festivity
is all for him. For every glass he fills, I put on ten pistoles, in addition to the
regular fee. He shall drink till he is under the table. If that is the case,
replied I, go to your presidentship, and do not spare the cellar.
Then was no proper time to talk about Catalina; but the next morning I
20
306 GIL BLAS. :
opened the business thus: Friend Scipio, the terms we are upon entitle me to
fair dealing. I have treated you more like an equal than a servant, conse-
quently you would be much to blame to cheat me on the footing of a master.
Let us, therefore, have no secrets towards each other. Iam going to tell you
what will surprise you; and you on your part shall give me your sincere opinion
about the two women with whom you have brought me acquainted. Between
ourselves, I suspect them to be no better than they should be; with so much
the more of the knave in their composition, because they affect the simpleton. If
my conjecture be right, the Prince of Spain has no great reason to be delighted
with my activity; for I will own to you frankly, that it was for him I spoke to
you about a mistress. I brought him to see Catalina, and he is over head and
ears in love with her. Sir, answered Scipio, you have dealt so handsomely by
me, that I shall act upon the square with you. I had yesterday a private inter-
view with the abigail, and she gave mea most entertaining history of the family.
You shall have it briefly, though it did not come briefly to me.
Catalina was daughter to a sort of gentleman in Arragon. An orphan at
fifteen, with no fortune but a pretty face, she lent a complying ear to an officer
who carried her off to Toledo, where he died in six months, having been more
like a father than a husband to her. She collected his effects together, con-
sisting of their joint wardrobe and three hundred pistoles in ready money, and
then went to housekeeping with Signora Mencia, who was still in fashion,
though a little on the wane. These sisters, every way but in blood, began at
length to attract the attention of the police. The ladies took umbrage at this,
and decamped in dudgeon for Madrid, where they have been living for these
two years, without making any acquaintance in the neighbourhood. But now
comes the best of the joke: they have taken two small houses adjoining each
other, with a passage of communication through the cellars. Signora Mencia
lives with a servant girl in one of these houses, and the officer’s widow inhabits
the other, with an old duenna, whom she passes off for her grandmother, so
that her versatile child of nature is sometimes a niece brought up by her aunt,
and sometimes an orphan under her grandam’s fostering wing. When she
enacts the niece, her name is Catalina; and when she personates the grand-
daughter, she calls herself Sirena.
At the grating sound of Sirena I turned pale, and interrupted Scipio, saying
. —What do you tellme? Alas! it must be so: This cursed imp of Arragon is
Calderona’s charming Siren. To be sure she is, answered he, the very same!
I thought you would be delighted at the news. Quite the reverse, replied L
It portends more sorrow than laughter; do not you anticipate the consequences ?
None of any ill omen, rejoined Scipio. What is there to be afraid of ? It is
not certain that Don Rodrigo will rub his forehead; and in case any good-
natured friend should show it him in the glass, you had better let the minister
into the secret beforehand. Tell him all the circumstances straightforward as
they happened; he will see that there has been no trick on your part; and if
after that Calderona should attempt to do you an ill office with his excellency,
it will be as clear as daylight that he is only actuated by a spirit of revenge.
Scipio removed all my apprehensions by this advice, which I followed, in
acquainting the Duke of Lerma at once with this unlucky discovery. My aspect,
while telling my tale, was sorrowful, and my tone faltering, in evidence of m
contrition for having unadvisedly brought the prince and Don Rodrigo into su
close quarters ; but the minister was more disposed to roast his favourite , 9
to pity him. Indeed, he ordered me to let the matter take its own course, con-
sidering it as a feather in Calderona’s cap to dispute the empire of love with so
illustrious a rival, and not to be worse used than his lawful prince. The Count de
Lemos, too, was informed how things stood, and promised me his protection, if
« GIL BLAS FORGETS HIS RELATIONS. 307
the first secretary should come at the knowledge of the intrigue, and attempt
to undermine me with the duke.
Trusting to have secured the frail bark of my fortunes by this notable con-
trivance from the rocks: and quicksands that threatened it, my mind was once
more at rest. I continued attending the prince on his visits to Catalina, siren-
like in nature as in nickname, who was fertile in quaint devices to keep Don
Rodrigo away from next door, whenever the course of business required her to
devote her nights to his royal competitor.
Cu. XIII.—Gil Blas goes on personating the great man. He hears news of his
Jamily : a touch of nature on the occasion. A grand quarrel with Fabricio.
I MENTIONED some time ago, that in the morning there was usually a crowd
of people in my ante-chamber, coming to negotiate little private concerns in the
way of politics ; but I would never suffer them to open their business by word
of mouth ; but adopting court precedent, or rather giving myself the airs of a
jack in office, my language to every suitor was—Send in a memorial on the
subject. My tongue ran so gliblyto that tune, that one day I gave my landlord
the official answer, when he came to put me in mind of a twelvemonth’s rent
in arrear. As for my butcher and baker, they spared the trouble of asking for
their memorials, by never giving me time to run up a bill. Scipio, who mim-
icked me so exactly, that only those behind the scenes could distinguish the
double from the principal performer, held his head just as high with the poor
devils who curried favour with him, as a step of the ladder to my ministerial
patronage.
There was another foolish trick of mine, of which I do not by any means
pretend to make a merit; neither more nor less than the extreme assurance of
talking about the first nobility, just as if I had been one of their kidney. Sup-
pose, for example, the Duke of Alva, the Duke of Ossuna, or the Duke of
Medina Sidonia were mentioned in conversation, I called them without cere-
mony, my friend Alva, that good-natured fellow Ossuna, or that comical dog
Medina Sidonia. In a word, my pride and vanity had swelled to such a
height, that my father and mother were no longer among the number of my
honoured relatives. Alas! poor understrappers, I never thought of asking
whether you had sunk or were swimming in the Asturias. A thought about
you never came into my head. The court has all the soporific virtues of Lethe,
in the case of poor relations.
My family was completely obliterated from the tablets of my memory, when
one morning a young man knocked at my door and begged to speak with me
for a moment in private. He was shown into my closet, where, without asking
him to take a chair, as he seemed to be quite a common fellow, I desired to
know abruptly what he wanted. How! Signor Gil Blas? said he, do you
not remember me? It was in vain that I perused the lines of his face over and
over again; I was obliged to tell him fairly that he had the advantage of me.
Why, Lam one of your old schoolfellows ! replied he, bred and born in Oviedo ;
Bertrand Muscada, the grocer’sson, next-door neighbour to your uncle the canon,
I recollect you as well as if it was but yesterday. We have played a thousand
times together at blind man’s buff and prison bars.
My youthful recollections, answered I, are very transient and confused.
Blind man’s buffand prison bars are but childish amusement! The burden of
state affairs leaves me little time to ruminate on the trifles of my younger days.
I am come to Madrid, said he, to settle accounts with my father’s correspondent.
I heard talk of you! Folks say that you havea good berth at court, and are
already almost as well off as a Jew, broker. I thought I would just call in
308 GIL BLAS.
and say, how d’yedo? On my return into the country, your family will jump out
of their skins for joy, when they hear how famously you are getting on.
It was impossible in decency to avoid asking how my father, my mother, and
my uncle stood in the world ; but that duty was performed in so gingerly a
manner, as to leave the grocer little room to compliment dame Nature on her
liberal provision of instinct. He seemed quite shocked at my indifference for
such near kindred, and told me bluntly, with his coarse shopman’s familiarity,
Methinks you might have shown more heartiness and natural feeling for your
kinsfolk !_ Why, you ask after them just as if they were vermin! Your father
and mother are still at service ; take that in your dish! And the good canon,
Gil Perez, eat up with gout, rheumatism, and old age, has one foot in the grave.
People should feel as people ought ; and seeing that you are in a berth to be a
blessing to your poor parents, take a friend’s advice, and allow them two hun-
dred pistoles a year. That will be doing a handsome thing, and making them
comfortable, and then you may spend the rest yi yourself with a good con-
science, Instead of being softened by this family picture, I only resented the
officiousness of unasked advice. A more delicate and covert remonstrance might
pavene have made its impression, but so bold a rebuke only hardened my heart.
y sulky silence was not lost upon him, so that while he moralized himself out
of charity into downright abuse, my choler began to overflow. Nay, then! this
is too much, answered I, in a devil of a passion, Get about your business,
Master Muscada, and mind your own shop. You are a pretty fellow to preach
to me! As if I were to be taught my duty by you. Without further parley I
handed the grocer out of my pin by the shoulder, and sent him off to weigh
figs and nutmegs at Oviedo.
The home-strokes he had laid on were not lost to my sober recollection. My
neglect of filial piety struck home to my heart, and melted meinto tears. When
I recollected how much my childhood was indebted to my parents, what pains
they had taken in my education, these affecting thoughts gave language for the
moment to the still small voice of nature and gratitude ; but the language was
never translated into solid sense and service. An habitual callousness succeed-
ed this transient sensation, and peremptorily cancelled every obligation of hu-
manity, There are many fathers besides mine, who will acknowledge this por-
trait of their sons.
Avarice and ambition, dividing me between them, annihilated every trace of
my former temper. I lost all my gaiety, became absent and moping,—in short,
a most unsociable animal. Fabricio seeing me so furiously bent on accumula-
tion, and so perfectly indifferent to him, very rarely came to seeme. He could
not help saying one day: In truth, Gil Blas, you are quite an altered man.
Before you were about the court, you were always pleasant and easy. Now
you are all agitation and turmoil. You form project after project to make a for-
tune, and the more you realize, the wider your views of aggrandizement extend.
But this is not the worst! You have no longer that expansion of heart, those
open manners, which form the charm of friendship. On the contrary, you wrap
yourself round, and shut the avenues of your heart even to me. In your very
civilities, I detect the violence you impose upon yourself, In short, Gil Blas is
no longer the same Gil Blas whom I once knew.
You really have a most happy talent for bantering, answered I, with repul-
sive jocularity. But this metamorphose into the shag of a savage is not percep-
tible to myself. Your own eyes, replied he, are insensible to the change, be-
cause they are fascinated. But the fact remains thesame. Now, my friend, tell
me fairly and honestly, shall we live together as heretofore ? When I used to:
knock at your door in the morning, you came and opened it yourself, between
asleep and awake, and I walked in without ceremony.. Now, what a difference!
SCIPIOS SCHEME OF MARRIAGE FOR GIL BLAS. . 309
You have an establishment of servants. They keep me cooling my heels in your
ante-chamber ; my name must be sent in before I can speak to you. When this
is got over, what is my reception? A cold inclination of the head, and the in-
solent strut of office. Any one would suppose that my visits were growing
troublesome! Can you suppose this to be treatment for a man who was once
on equal terms with you? No, Santillane, it can never be, nor will I bear ‘it
longer. Farewell! Let us part without ill blood. We shall both be better
asunder ; you will get rid of a troublesome censor, and I of a purse-proud upstart
who does not know himself.
I felt myself more exasperated than reformed by his reproaches ; and suffered
him to take his departure without the slightest effort to overcome his resolution.
In the present temper of my mind, the friendship of a poet did not seema catch
of sufficient importance to break one’s heart about its loss. I found ample
amends in the intimacy of some subaltern attendants about the king’s person,
with whom a similarity of humour had lately connected me closely. ‘These new
acquaintance of mine were for the most part men from no one knows where,
pushed up to their appointments more by luck than merit. They had all got into
warm berths ; and, wretches as they were, measuring their own consequence by
the excess of royal bounty, forgot their origin as scandalously as I forgot mine.
We gave ourselves infinite credit for what told so much and bitterly to our dis-
grace. O fortune! what a jade you are, to distribute your favours at hap-hazard
as you do! Epictetus was perfectly in the right, when he likened you to a jilt
of fashion, prowling about in masquerade, and tipping the wink to every black-
guard who parades the street.
BOOK THE NINTH.
Cu. I.— Scipio's scheme of marriage for Gil Blas. The match,’a rich goldsmiths
- daughter. Circumstances connected with this speculation.
ONE evening, on the departure of my supper company, finding myself alone
with Scipio, I asked him what he had been doing that day. Striking a master-
stroke, answered he. I intend that you should marry. A goldsmith of my ac-
quaintance has an only daughter, and I mean to make up a match between you.
A goldsmith’s daughter! exclaimed I with a disdainful air: are you out of
your senses? Can you think of tying me up to a trinket-maker? People ofa
certain character in society, and on a certain footing at court, ought to have
much higher views of things. Pardon me, sir! rejoined Scipio, donot take the
subject up in that light. Recollect that nobility.accrues by the male side, and
do not ride a higher horse than a thousand jockeys of quality whom I could
name. Do you know that the heiress in question will bring a hundred thou-
sand ducats in her pocket ? Is not that a pretty little sprig of jewellery? To the
resounding echo of so large a sum, my ears were instantly symphonious, The
day is your own, said I to the secretary ; the fortune determines the case in the
lady’s favour. When do you mean to put me in possession? Fair and softly,
sir, answered he, the more haste the worse speed. It will be necessary for me
first to communicate the affair to the father, and instil the advantage of it into his
capacity. Good! rejoined I with a burst of laughter ; is it thereabouts you are ?
The match is faradvanced in its progress towards consummation. Much nearer
than you suppose, replied he. But one hour’s conversation with the goldsmith,
and I pledge myself for his consent. But, before we go any further, let us come
310 GIL BLAS.
to an agreement, if you please. Supposing that I should transfer a hundred
thousand ducats to you, what would my commission be? Twenty thousand ! was
my answer. Heaven be praised therefore! said he. I guessed your gratitude
at ten thousand ; so that it doubles mine in a similar case. Come on then! I
will set this negotiation on foot to-morrow morning ; and you may count upon
its success, or I am little better than one of the foolish ones.
In fact, he said to me two days afterwards, I have spoken to Signor Gabriel
Salero, my friend the goldsmith. On the loud report of your high desert and
credit, he has lent a favourable ear to my offer of you for a son-in-law. You
are to have his daughter with a hundred thousand ducats, provided you can
make it appear clearly that you are in possession of the minister’s good graces.
Since that is the case, said I confidently to Scipio, I shall soon be married.
But, not entirely to forget the girl, have you seen her? is she pretty? Not
quite so pretty as her fortune, answered he. Between ourselves, this heiress’s
looks are as hard as her cash. Luckily, you are perfectly indifferent about that.
Stone blind, by the light of the sun, my good fellow! replied I. As for us
whimsical fellows about court, we marry merely for the sake of marrying. When
we want beauty, we look for it in our friends’ wives ; and if, by fates and des-
tinies, the sweets are wasted on our own, their flavour is so mawkish to our palate,
that there is some merit in their not carrying the commodity to a foreign
market.
This is not all, resumed Scipio: Signor Gabriel hopes for the pleasure of
your company to supper thisevening. By agreement, there is to be no men-
tion of marriage. He has invited several of his mercantile friends to this enter-
tainment, where you will take your chance with the rest, and to-morrow he
means to sup with you on the same terms. By this you will perceive his drift
of looking before he leaps. You will do well to be a little on your guard be-
fore him. Oh! for the matter of that, interrupted I with an air of confidence;
let him scrutinize me as closely as he pleases, the result cannot fail to be in my
favour.
All this happened as it was foretold. I was introduced at the goldsmith’s,
who received me with the familiarity of an old acquaintance. A vulgar dog,
but warm; and as troublesome with his civility as a prude with her virtue.
He presented me to Signora Eugenia his wife, and the youthful Gabriela his
daughter. I opened wide my budget of compliments, without infringing the
piven, and prattled soft nothings to them, in all the vacuity of courtly dia-
ogue.
Gabriela, with submission to my secretary’s better taste, was not altogether
so repulsive; whether by dint of being outrageously bedizened, or because I
looked at her in the raree-shew box of her fortune. A charming house this of
Signor Gabriel! There is less silver, I verily believe, in the Peruvian mines,
than under his roof. That metal presented itself to the view in all directions,
under a thousand different forms. Every room, and especially that where we
were entertained, was a fairy palace. What a bird’s eye view for a son-in-law!
The old codger, to do the thing genteelly, had collected five or six merchants
about him, all plodding spirit-wearing personages. Their tongues could only
talk of what their hearts were set upon; it was high change all supper-time ;
but unfortunately wit was at a discount.
Next night, it was my turn to treat the goldsmith. Not being able to dazzle
him with my sideboard, I had recourse to another artifice. I invited to supper
such of my friends as made the finest figure at court; hangers-on of state, noted
for the unwieldiness of their ambition. These fellows could not talk on'com-
mon topics: the brilliant and lucrative posts at which they aimed were all can-
vassed in detail; this too made its way. Poor counting-house Gabriel, in
GIL BLAS ENGAGED TO BE MARRIED. 311
amazement at the loftiness of their ideas, shrunk into insignificance, in spite of
all his hoards, on a comparison with these wonderful men. As for me, in all
the plausibility of moderation, I professed to wish for nothing more than a
comfortable fortune; a snug box and a competence: whereupon these gluttons
of the loaves and fishes cried out with one voice that I was wrong, absolutely
criminal; for the prime minister would do anything upon earth for me, and it
was an act of duty to anoint my fingers with bird-lime. My honoured papa
lost not a word of all this; and seemed, at going away, to take his leave with
some complacency.
Scipio went of course the next morning, to ask him how he liked me. Ex-
tremely well indeed, answered the knight of the ledger; the lad has won my
very heart. But, good master Scipio, I conjure you by our long acquaintance
to deal with me as a true friend. We have all our weak side, as you well
know. ‘Tell me where Signor de Santillane is fallible. Is he fond of play?
does he wench? On what lay are his snug little vices? Do not fight shy, I
beseech you. It is very unkind, Signor Gabriel, to put such a question, re-
torted the go-between. Your interest is more to me than my master’s. If he
had any slippery propensities, likely to make your daughter unhappy, would I
ever have proposed him as a son-in-law? The deucea bit! I am too much at
your service. But, between ourselves, he has but one fault; that of being
faultless. He is too wise fora young man. So much the better, replied the
goldsmith; he is the more like me. You may go, my friend, and tell him he
shall have my daughter, and should have her though he knew no more of the
minister than I do.
As soon as my secretary had reported this conversation, I flew to thank
Salero for his partiality. He had already told his mind to his wife and
daughter, who gave me to understand by their reception, that they yielded
without disgust. I carried my father-in-law to the Duke of Lerma, whom I
had informed the evening before, and presented him with due ceremony. His
excellency gave him a most gracious reception, and congratulated him on
having chosen a man for his son-in-law, for whom he himself had so great a
regard, and meant to do such great things. Then did he expatiate on my good
qualities, and, in fact, said so much to my honour, that honest Gabriel thought
he had met with the best match in Spain. His joy oozed out at his eyes. On
parting, he pressed me in his arms, and said: My son, I am so impatient to
see you Gabriela’s husband, that the affair shall be finally settled within a week
at latest.
Cu. Il.—Zn the progress of political vacancies, Gil Blas recollects that there is
such amanin the world as Don Alphonso de Leyva; and renders him a
service from motives of vanity.
LET us leave my marriage to take care of itself for a season. The order of
events requires me to recount a service rendered to my old master Don ‘Al-
phonso. I had entirely forgotten that gentleman’s existence; but a circum-
stance recalled it to my recollection.
The government of Valencia became vacant at this time; and put me in
mind of Don Alphonso de Leyva. I considered within myself that the em-
ployment would suit him to a nicety; and determined to apply for it on his be-
half, not so much out of friendship as ostentation. If I could but procure it for
him, it would do me infinite honour. I told the Duke of Lerma that I
had been steward to Don Czesar de Leyva and his son; and that having every
reason in the world to feel myself obliged to them, I should take it as a favour
if he would give the government of Valencia to one or other of them, The
312 GIL BLAS.
minister answered: Most willingly, Gil Blas. I love to see you grateful and
generous. Besides, the family stands very high in my esteem. The Leyvas
are loyal subjects; so that the place cannot be better bestowed. You may
take it as a wedding present, and do what you like with it. .
Delighted at the success of my application, I went to Calderona in a pro-
digious hurry, to get the patent made out for Don Alphonso. ‘There was a
great crowd, waiting in respectful silence till Don — should come and
give audience. I made my way through, and the closet door opened as if by’
sympathy. There were no one knows how many military and civil officers,
with other people of consequence, among whom Calderona was dividing his
attentions, His different reception of different people was curious. <A slight
inclination of the head was enough for some; others he honoured with a pro-
fusion of courtly grimace, and bowed them out of the closet. The proportions
of civility were weighed to a scruple. On the other hand, there were some
suitors who, shocked at his cold indifference, cursed in their secret soul the
necessity for their cringing before such a monkey of an idol, Others, on the
contrary, were laughing in their sleeve at his gross and self-sufficient air, But
the scene was thrown away upon me; nor was I likely to profit by such a
lesson. It was exactly the counterpart of my own behaviour: and I never
thought of ascertaining whether my deportment was popular or offensive, so
long as there was no violation of outward respect.
Don Rodrigo accidentally casting a look towards me, left a gentleman, to
whom he was speaking, without ceremony, and came to pay his respects with
the most unaccountable tokens of high consideration. Ah, my dear colleague!
exclaimed he, what occasion procures me the pleasure of seeing you here! Is
there anything we can do for you? I told him my business; whereupon he
assured me, in the most obliging terms, that the affair should be expedited
within four-and-twenty hours. ot satisfied with these overwhelming conde-
scensions, he conducted me to the door of his ante-chamber, whither he never
attended any but the nobility of first rank. His farewell was as flattering as
his reception.
What is the meaning of all this palaver? said I while retreating; has any
raven croaked my entrance, and prophesied promotion to Calderona by my~
overthrow? Does he really languish for my friendship? or does he feel the
ground giving way under his feet, and wish to save himself by clinging to the
branches of my favour and protection? It seemed a moot point, which of
these conjectures might be the right. The following day, on my return, his
behaviour was of the same stamp; caresses and civilities poured in upon me in
torrents. It is true that other people who attempted to speak to him, were
rumped in exact proportion with the blandishments of his face towards me,
He snarled at some, petrified others, and made the whole circle run the
gauntlet of his displeasure. But they were all amply avenged by an occurrence,
the relation of which may give a gentle hint to all the clerks and secretaries on
the list of my readers.
A man very plainly dressed, and certainly not looking at all like what he
was, came up to Calderona and spoke to him about a memorial, stated to have
been presented by himself to the Duke of Lerma. Don Rodrigo, without
looking from his clothes up to his face, said in a sharp, ungracious tone—Who
may you happen to be, honest man? They called me Francillo in my child-
hood, answered the stranger unabashed; my next style and title was that of
Don Francillo de Zuniga; and my present name is the Count de Pedrosa. Cal-
derona was all in a twitter at this discovery, and attempted to stammer out an
excuse, when he found that he had to do with a man of the first quality.
Sir, said he to the Count, I have to beg you ten thousand pardons; but not
PREPARATIONS FOR THE MARRIAGE. 313
knowing whom I had the honour to...... I want none of your apologies,
interrupted Francillo with proud indignation; they are as nauseous as your
rudeness was unbecoming. Recollect henceforth, that a minister’s secretary
ought to receive all descriptions of people with good manners. You may be
vain enough to affect the representative of your master, but the public know
you for his menial servant.
The haughty Don Rodrigo blushed blue at this rebuke. Yet it did not
mend his manners one whit. On me it made a salutary impression, I deter-
mined to take care and ascertain the rank of my petitioners, before I gave a
loose to the insolence of office, and to inflict torture only upon mutes. As
Don Alphonso’s patent was made out, I sent it by a purpose messenger, with
a letter from the Duke of Lerma, announcing the royal favour. But I took no
notice of my own share in the appointment, nor even accompanied it with a
line, in the fond hope of announcing it by word of mouth, and surprising him
ps. a when he came to the court on occasion of taking the customary
oaths.
Cu, Ill.—Preparations for the marriage of Gil Blas. A spokein the wheel of
Lfymen.
AND now once more for my lovely Gabriela! We were to be married in a
week. Preparations were making on both sides for the ceremony. Salero
ordered a rich wardrobe for the bride, and I hired a waiting-woman for her, a
footman, and a gentleman usher of decent aspect and advanced years. ‘The
whole establishment was provided by Scipio, who longed more longingly than
myself for the hour when we were to be fingering the fortune.
On the evening before the happy day, I was supping with my father-in-law,
the rest of the company being made up of uncles, aunts, and cousins of either
sex and every degree. The part of a supple-visaged son-in-law sat upon me to
perfection. Nothing could exceed my profound respect for the goldsmith and
his wife, or the transports of my passion at Gabriela’s feet, while I smoothed my
way into the graces of the family, by listening with impregnable patience
to their witless repartees and irrational ratiocinations. ‘Thus did I gain the
great end of all my forbearance, the pleasure of pleasing my new relations.
Every individual of the clan felt himself a foot taller for the honour of my
alliance.
_ The repast ended, the company moved into a large room, where we were
entertained with a concert of vocal and instrumental music, not the worst
that was ever heard, though the performers were not selected from the choicest
bands at Madrid. Some lively airs put us in mind of dancing, Heaven knows
what sort of performers we must have been, when they took me for the cory-
pheeus of the opera, though I never had but two or three lessons from a petty
dancing-master, who taught the pages on the establishment of the Marchioness
de Chaves. After we had tired our tendons, it was time to think of going
home. There was no end of my bows and God-bless-you’s. Farewell, my
dear son-in-law, said Salero as he squeezed my hand, I shall be at your house
in the morning with the portion in ready money. You will be welcome, come
when you list, my dear father-in-law, answered I. Afterwards, wishing the
family good night, I jumped into my carriage, and ordered it to drive home.
Scarcely had I got two hundred yards from Signor Gabriel’s house, when
fifteen or twenty men, some on foot and some on horseback, all with swords
and fire-arms, surrounded and stopped the coach, crying out, 7 the name of our
sovereign lord the king. ‘They dragged me out by main force, and thrust me
into a hack-chaise, when the leader of the party got in with me, and ordered
314 GIL BLAS.
the driver to go for Segovia. There could be no doubt but the honest gentle-
man by my side was an alguazil. I wanted to know something about the cause
of my arrest, but he answered in the language of those gentry, which is very bad
language, that he had other things to do than to satisfy my impertinent curios-
ity. I suggested that he might have mistaken his man. No, no, retorted he,
the fool is wiser than that. You are Signor de Santillane; and in that case
you are to go along with me, Not being able to deny that fact, it became an act
of prudence to hold my tongue. For the remainder of the night we traversed
Mancanarez in sulky silence, changed horses at Colmenar, and arrived the next
evening at Segovia, where the lodging provided for me was in the tower.
Cu. IV.—TZhe treatment of Gil Blas in the tower of Segovia. The cause of his
imprisonment.
THEIR first favour was to clap me up in a cell, where they left me on the straw
like a criminal, whose only earthly portion was to con over his dying speech in
solitude. I passed the night, not in bewailing my fate, for it had not yet pre-
sented itself in all its aggravation, but in endeavouring to divine its cause.
Doubtless it must have been Calderona’s handywork. And yet though his
branching honours might have pressed thick upon his senses, I could not con-
ceive how the Duke of Lerma could have been induced to treat me so inhuman-
ly. Sometimes I apprehended my arrest to have been without his excellency’s
knowledge ; at other times I thought him the contriver of it, for some political
reasons, such as weigh with ministers when they sacrifice their accomplices at
the shrine of state policy.
My mind was vibrating to and fro with these various conjectures, when the
dawn peeping in at my little grated window, presented to my sight all the hor-
ror of the place where I was confined. Then did I vent my sorrows without
ceasing, and my eyes became two springs of tears, flowing inexhaustibly at the
remembrance of my prosperous state. Pending this paroxysm of grief, a turn-
key brought me my day’s allowance of bread and water. He looked at me,
and on the contemplation of my tear-besprinkled visage, gaoler as he was, there
came over him a sentiment of pity : Do not despair, saidhe. This life is full of
crosses, but mind them not. You are young ; after these days, you will live to
see better. In the mean time, eat at the king’s mess, with what appetite you
may.
My comforter withdrew with this quaint invitation, answered by my groans
and tears. The rest of the day was spent in cursing my wayward destiny, with-
out thinking of my empty stomach. As for the royal morsel, it seemed more
like the message of wrath than the boon of benevolence ; the tantalizing pro-
traction of pain, rather than the solace of affliction.
Night came, and with it the rattle of a key in my keyhole. My dungeon
door opened, and in came a man with a wax-light in his hand, He advanced
towards me, saying—Signor Gil Blas, behold in me one of your old friends. I
am Don Andrew de Tordesillas, in the Archbishop of Grenada’s service while
you enjoyed that prelate’s favour. You may recollect engaging his interest in
my behalf, and thereby procuring me a post in Mexico ; but instead of embark-
ing for the Indies, I stopped in the town of Alicant. There I married the go-
vernor’s daughter, and by a series of adventures of which you shall hereafter have
the particulars, I am now warden of this tower. It is expressly forbidden me
to let you speak to any living soul, to give you any better bed than straw, or
any other sustenance than bread and water. But besides that your misfortunes
interest my humanity, you have done me service, and gratitude countervails the
harshness of my orders. They think to make me the instrument of their cruelty,
GIL BLAS, IN PRISON, MEETS WITH A FRIEND. 315
but it is my better purpose to soften the rigour of your captivity. Get up and
follow me. ;
Though my humane keeper was entitled to some acknowledgment, my spirits
were so affected as to interdict my speech. All I could do was to attend him.
We crossed a court, and mounted a narrow staircase to a little room at the top
of the tower. It was no small surprise, on entering, to find a table with lights
on it, neatly set out with covers for two. They will serve up immediately, said
Tordesillas, We are going to sup together. ‘This snug retreat is appointed for
your lodging ; it will agree better with you than your cell. From your window
you will look down on the flowery banks of the Eréma, and the delicious vale
of Coca, bounded by the mountains which divide the two Castiles. At first you
will care little for prospects ; but when time shall have softened your keener
sensations into a composed melancholy, it will be a pleasure to feast your eyes
on such engaging scenes. Then, as for linen and other necessaries befitting
a man accustomed to the comforts of life, they shall be always at your service.
Your bed and board shall be such as you could wish, with a plentiful supply of
books. Ina word, you shall have everything but your liberty.
My spirits were a little tranquillized by these obliging offers. I took courage
and returned my best thanks, assuring him that his generous conduct restored
me to life, and that I hoped at some time or other to find an opportunity of
testifying my gratitude. ‘To be sure! and why should you not? answered he.
Did you fancy yourself a prisoner for life? Nothing less likely! and I would
lay a wager that you will be released in a very few months, What say you, Sig-
nor Don Andrew ? exclaimed I. Then surely you are acquainted with the oc-
casion of my misfortune. You guess right, replied he. The alguazil who
brought you hither told me the whole story in confidence. The king, hearing
that the Count de Lemos and you were in the habit of escorting the Prince of
Spain by night to a house of suspicious character, as a punishment for your loose
morals, has banished the count, and sent you hither, to be treated in the style
of which you have had a specimen. And how, said I, did that circumstance
come to the king’s knowledge? That is what I am most curious to ascertain,
And that, answered he, is precisely what the alguazil did not tell, apparently
because he did not know.
At this epoch of our conversation, the servants brought in supper. When
everything was set in order, Tordesillas sent away the attendants, not wishing
our conversation to be overheard. He shut the door, and we took our seats
opposite to each other. Let us say grace, and fall to, said he. Your appetite
ought to be good after two days of fasting. Under this impression he loaded
my plate as if he had been cramming the craw ofastarveling. In fact, nothing
was more likely than that I should play the devil among the ragouts ;
but what is likely does not always happen. Though my intestines were yearn-
ing for support, their staple stuck in my throat, for my heart loathed all plea-
surable indulgence in the present state of my affairs. In vain did my warden,
to drive away the blue devils, pledge me continually, and expatiate on the ex-
cellence of his wine ; imperishable nectar would have been pricked according to
the fastidious report of my palate. This being the case, he went another way
to work, and told me the story of his marriage, with as much humour as such a
subject would admit. Here he was still less successful. So wandering was my
attention, that before the end I had forgotten the beginning and the middle.
At length he was convinced that there was no diverting my gloomy thoughts for
that evening. After finishing his solitary supper, he rose from table, saying :
peer de Santillane, I shall leave you to your repose, or rather to the free in-
dulgence of your own reveries. But, take my word for it, your misfortune will
not be of long continuance. The king isnaturally good, When his anger shall
316 GIL BLAS.
have passed away, and your deplorable estate shall occur to his milder thoughts,
our punishment will appear sufficient in hiseyes. With these words, my kind-
hearied gaoler went down-stairs, and sent the servants totake away. Not even
the brass candlesticks were left behind ; and I went to bed by the palpable
darkness of a glimmering lamp suspended against the wall.
Cu. V.—His reflections before he went to sleep that night, and the noise that
waked him.
Two hours at least were my thoughts employed on what Tordesillas had told
me. Here, then, am I, for having lent myself to the pleasures of the heir-ap-
parent! It was certainly not having my wits about me, to pander for so young
a prince. Therein consists my crime; had he been arrived at a more knowing
age, the king perhaps might only have laughed at what has now made him so
angry. But who can have given such counsel to the monarch, without dreading
the prince’s resentment or the Duke of Lerma’s? That minister will doubtless
take ample vengeance for his nephew the Count de Lemos, How can the king
have made the discovery? That is above my comprehension.
This last was the eternal burden of mysong. But the idea most afflictive to
my mind, what drove me to despair, and laid fiend-like hold upon my fancy,
was the unquestioned plunder of my effects. My strong box, exclaimed I, my
dear wealth, what is become of you? Into what hands have you fallen? Alas!
ou are lost in less time than you were gained! ‘The ruinous confusion of my
Lousehold was the perpetual death’s-head of my imagination. Yet this wilder-
ness of melancholy ideas sheltered me from absolute distraction : sleep, which
had shunned my wretched straw, now paid his readier visit to my soft and gentle-
manly couch. Watching and wine, too, imparted a strong narcotic to his pop-
pies. My slumbers were profound; and to all appearance, the day might have
peeped in upon my repose, if I had not been awakened all at once by such
sounds as rarely perforate a prison wall, I heard the thrum of a guitar, accom-
panying a man’s voice. My whole attention was absorbed; but the invisible
musician paused, and left the fleeting impression of a dream, An instant after-
wards, my ear was soothed with the sound of the same instrument, and the same
voice.
Wisely the ant against poor winter hoards
The stock which summer’s wealth affords ;
In grasshoppers, that must at autumn die,
How vain were such an industry!
Of love or fortune the deceitful light
Might half excuse our cheated sight,
If it of life the whole small time would stay,
And be our sunshine all the day.* ©
' ‘These verses, which sounded as if they had been sung expressly for the dirge
of my departed happiness, were only an aggravation of my feelings. The truth
of the sentiment, said I, is but too well exemplified in me. The meteor of court
favour has but plunged me in substantial darkness; the summer sunshine of am-
bition is quenched in these autumnal glooms. Now did I sink again into cold
* To have substituted, with a slight variation, these two stanzas from Cowley
for a translation of the common-place couplet in the original, will probably not
be thought to require any apology. They necessarily involve a e in the
consequent reflections of our hero. TRANSLATOR,
HE FORMS A FRIENDSHIP WITH A FELLOW-PRISONER. 317
and comfortless meditation ; my miseries began to flow afresh, as if they fed
and grew upon their own vital stream. Yet my wailings ended with the night ;
and the first rays which played upon my chamber wall amused my mind into
composure. I got up toopen my window, and let the vivid air of morning into
myroom. Then I glanced over the country, so attractively depicted in the
description of my keeper. It did not seem to justify his panegyric. The Eréma,
a second Tagus in my magnifying fancy, was little better than a brook. Its
flowery banks were fringed with nettles, and arrayed in all the majesty of
thistles ; the delicious vale in this fairy prospect was a barren wilderness, un-
tamed by human labour. It therefore was very evident that my keener sensa-
tions were not yet softened into such a composed melancholy, as could give any
but a jaundiced colouring to the landscape.
I began dressing, and had already half finished my toilet, when Tordesillas
ushered in an old chambermaid, laden with shirts and towels. Signor Gil Blas,
said he, here is your linen. Do not be saving of it ; there shall always be as
many changes as you can possibly want. Well now! and how have you passed
the night? Has the drowsy god administered his anodyne? I could have slept
till this time, answered I, if I had not been awakened by a voice singing to a
guitar. The cavalier who has disturbed your repose, resumed he, is a state
prisoner ; and his chamber is contiguous to yours. He is a knight of the mili-
tary order of Calatrava, and is a very accomplished person. His name is Don
Gaston de Cogollos. You may meet as often as you like, and take your meals
together. It willafford reciprocal consolation to compare your fortunes. There
can be no doubt of your being agreeable to one another. I assured Don An-
drew how sensible I was of his indulgence in allowing me to blend my sorrows
with those of my fellow-sufferer ; and, as I betrayed some impatience to be ac-
quainted with him, our accommodating warden met my wishes on the very same
day. He fixed me to dine with Don Gaston, whose prepossessing physiognomy
and symmetry of feature struck me sensibly. Judge what it must have been,
to make so stron’ an impression on eyes accustomed to encounter the dazzling
exterior of the court. Figure to yourself a man fashioned in the mould of plea-
sure ; one of those heroes in romance, who has only to shew his face, and
banish the sweet sleep from the eyelids of princesses. Add to this, that nature,
who is generally bountiful with one hand and niggardly with the other, had
crowned the perfections of Cogollos with wit and valour. He was a man,
whose like, take him for all in all, we might not soon look upon again.
If this fine fellow was mightily to my taste, it was my good luck not to be
altogether offensive to him. He no longer sang at night for fear of annoying
me, though I begged him by no means to restrain his inclinations on my account.
A bond of union is soon formed between brethren in misfortune. A close friend-
ship succeeded to mere acquaintance, and strengthened from day to day. The
liberty of uninterrupted intercourse contributed greatly to our mutual support ;
our burden became lighter by division.
One day after dinner I went into his room, just as he was tuning his guitar.
To hear him more at my ease, I sat down on the only stool ; while he, reclin-
ing on his bed, played a pathetic air, and sang to it a ditty, expressing the
despair of a lover and the cruelty of his mistress. When he had finished, I said
to him with a smile, Sir knight, such strains as these could never be applicable
to your own successes with the fair. You were not made to cope with female
repulse. You think too well of me, answered he. ‘The verses you have just
heard were composed to fit my own case ; to soften a heart of adamant. You
must hear my story, and in my story, my distresses.
318 GIL BLAS.
Cu. VI.—WHistory of Don Gaston de Cogollos and Donna Helena de Galistco,
Ir will be very soon four years since I left Madrid to go and see my aunt Donna
Eleonora de Laxarilla at Coria: she is one of the richest dowagers in Old Cas-
tile, with myself for her only heir. Scarcely had I got within her doors, when
love invaded my repose. ‘The windows of my room faced the lattice of a lady
living opposite : but the street was narrow, and her blinds pervious to the eye.
It was an opportunity too delicious to be lost ; and I found my neighbour so
lovely that my heart was captivated. The subject of my sentry-watch could
not be mistaken. She marked it well; but she was not a girl to glory in the
detection, still less to encourage my fooleries.
It was natural to inquire the name of this mighty conqueror. I learnt it to
be Donna Helena, only daughter of Don George de Galisteo, lord ofa large do-
main near Coria. She had innumerable offers of marriage ; but her father re-
pulsed them all, because he meant to bestow her hand on his nephew, Don
Austin de Olighera, who had uninterrupted access to his cousin while the settle-
ments were preparing. This was no bar to my hopes: on the contrary, it
whetted my eagerness; and the insolent pleasure of supplanting a favoured
rival was, perhaps, at bottom equally my motive with a more noble passion.
My visual artillery was obstinately planted against my unyielding fair. Her at-
tendant Felicia was not without the incense of a glance, to soften her rigid
constancy in my favour ; while nods and becks stood for the current coin of
language. But all these efforts of gallantry were in vain—the maid was im-
pregnable like her mistress—never was there such a pair of cold and cruel
ones.
The commerce of the eyes being so unthrifty, I had recourse to different
agents. My scouts were on the watch to hunt out what acquaintance Felicia
might have in town. ‘They discovered an old lady, by name Theodora, to be
her most intimate friend, and that they oftenmet. Delighted at the intelligence,
I went point blank to Theodora, and engaged her by presents in my interest.
She took my cause up heartily, promised to contrive an interview for me with
her friend, and kept her engagement the very next day.
I am no longer the wretch of yesterday, said I to Felicia, since my sufferings
have melted you to pity. How deep is my debt to your friend for her kind
interference in my behalf. Sir, answered she, Theodora can do what she
pleases with me. She has brought me over to your side of the question ; and
if I can do youa kindness, you shall soon be at the summit of your wishes ;
but, with all my partiality in your favour, I know not how far my efforts
may be successful. It would be cruel to mislead you: the prize will not be
gained without a severe conflict. The object of your passion is betrothed to
another gentleman, and her character most inauspicious to your designs. Such
is her pride, and so closely locked are her secrets within her own breast, that
if, by constancy and assiduities, you could extort from her a few sighs, fancy
not that her haughty spirit would indulge your ears with their music. Ah! my
dear Felicia, exclaimed I in an agony, why will you thus magnify the obstacles
in my way? To set them in array will kill me. Lead me on with false hopes,
if you will ; but do not drive me to despair. With these words I took one of
her hands, pressed it between mine, and slid a diamond on her er value
three hundred pistoles, with such a moving compliment as made her weep
again.
Such speeches and corresponding actions deserved some scanty comfort. She
smoothed a little the rugged path of love. Sir, said she, what I have just been
telling you need not quite quench your hope. Your rival, it is true, is in pos-
HISTORY OF DON GASTON DE COGOLLOS. 319
session of the ground. He comes back and fore as he pleases. He toys with
her as often as he likes, but all that isin your favour. The habit of constant
intercourse sheds a languor over their meetings. They part without pain, and
come together without emotion. One would take them for man and wife. In .
a word, my mistress has no marks of violent love for Don Austin. Besides, in.
point of person, there is such a difference between you and him as cannot fail
to catch the eye of a nice observer like Donna Helena. Therefore do not be
cast down. Continue your particular attentions. You shall have a second in
me. I shall let no opportunity escape of pointing out to my mistress the merit
of all your exertions to please her. In vain shall she intrench herself behind
reserve. In spite of guard and garrison, I will ransack the muster-roll of her
sentiments.
Now were my open attacks and secret ambuscades more fiercely pointed
against the daughter of Don George. Among the rest, I entertained her with
a serenade. After the concert Felicia, to sound her mistress, begged to know
how she had been entertained. The singer had a good voice, said Donna
Helena. But how did youlikethe words? replied the abigail. I scarcely noted
them, returned the lady ; the music engrossed my wholeattention. The poetry
excited as little curiosity as its author. If that is the case, exclaimed the
chambermaid, poor Don Gaston de Cogollos is reckoning without his host ; and
a miserable spendthrift of his glances, to be always ogling at our lattice-work.
Perhaps it may not be he, said the mistress with petrifying indifference, but
some other spark, announcing his passion by this concert. Excuse me, answer-
ed Felicia, it is Don Gaston himself, who accosted me this morning in the street,
and implored me to assure you how he adored, in defiance of your rigorous re-
pulses : but that he should esteem himself the most blest of mortals, if you
would allow him to soothe his desponding thoughts by all the most delicate and
impassioned attentions. Judge now if I can be mistaken, after so open an
avowal.
Don George’s daughter changed countenance at once, and said to her servant
with a severe frown, You might well have dispensed with the relation of this
impertinent discourse. Bring me no more such idle tales; and tell this young
madman, when next he accosts you, to play off his shallow artifices on some
more accommodating fool; but, at all events, let him choose a more gentle-'
manly recreation than that of lounging all day at his window, and prying into
the privacy of my apartment.
This message was faithfully delivered at my next interview with Felicia, who
assured me that her mistress’s modes of speech were not to be taken in their
literal construction, but that my affairs were in the best possible train. For
my part, being little read in the science of coquetry, and finding no favourable
sense on the face of the author’s original words, I was half out of humour with
the wire-drawn comments of the critic. She laughed at my misgiving, and
asked her friend for pen, ink, and paper, saying: Sir knight of the doleful
countenance, write immediately to Donna Helena as dolefully as you look.
Make echo ring with your sufferings; outsigh the river’s murmur; and, above
all, let rocks and woods resound with the prohibition of appearing at your
window. ‘Then pawn your existence on obeying her, though without the pos-
sibility ever to redeem the pledge. Turn all that nonsense into pretty sentences,
as vou gay deceivers so well know how to do, and leave the rest tome. The
event, I flatter myself, will redound more than you are aware to the honour of
my penetration.
He must have been a strange lover who would not have profited by so op-
portune an occasion of writing to his mistress. My letter was couched in the
most pathetic terms. Felicia smiled at its contents; and said, that if the
320 GIL BLAS.
women knew the art of infatuating men, the men in return had borrowed their
influence over women from the arch wheedler himself. My privy counsellor
took the note, and went back to Don George’s, with a feektal tstemotion that
my windows should be fast shut for some days.
Madam, said she, going up to Donna Helena, I met Don Gaston. He
must needs endeavour to come round me with his flattering speeches. In
tremulous accents, like a culprit pleading against his sentence, he begged to
know whether I had spoken to you on his behalf. Then, in prompt and
faithful compliance with your orders, I snapped up the words out of his
mouth. To be sure, my tongue did run at a fine rate against him. I called
him all manner of names, and left him in the street like a stock, staring at my
termagant loquacity. I am delighted, answered Donna Helena, that you have
disengaged me from that troublesome person, But there was no occasion to
have snubbed him so unmercifully. A creature of your degree should always
keep a good tongue in its mouth. Madam, replied the domestic, one cannot
get rid of a determined lover by mincing one’s words, though it comes to much.
the same thing when one flies into a passion. Don Gaston, for instance, was
not to be bullied out of his senses. After having given it him on both sides of
his ears, as I told you, I went on that errand of yours to the house of your re-
lation. The lady, as ill-luck would have it, kept me longer than she ought.
I say longer than she ought, because my plague and torment met me on my re-
turn, Who the deuce would have thought of seeing him? It put me all ina
twitter; but then my tongue, which at other times is apt to be in a twitter,
stuck motionless in my mouth. While my tongue stuck motionless in my
mouth, what did he do? He slid a paper into my hand without giving me
time to consider whether I should take it or no, and made off in a moment.
After this introduction, she drew my letter from under her stays, and gave
it with half a banter to her mistress, who affected to read it in humorous scorn,
but digested the contents most greedily, and then put on the starch, offended
prude. In good earnest, Felicia, said she with all the gravity she could assume,
you were extremely off your guard, quite bewildered and fascinated, to have
taken the charge of such an epistle. What construction would Don Gaston put
upon it? What must I think of it myself? You give me reason, by this
strange behaviour, to mistrust your fidelity, while he must suspect me of en-
couraging his odious suit. Alas! he may, perhaps, lay that flattering unction
to his soul, that my love is legible in these characters, and not his tres
Only consider how you lay my towering pride. Oh! quite the reverse, m M
answered the petticoated pleader; it is impossible for him to think that; and
if he did, he would soon be convinced with a flea in his ear. I shall tell him,
when next we meet, that I have delivered his letter, that you glanced at the
superscription with petrifying indifference, and then, without reading a word,
tore it into ten thousand pieces. You may swear that I did not read it witha
safe conscience, replied Donna Helena. I should be puzzled to retrace a single
sentiment. Don George’s daughter, not contented with these words, suited
the action to them, tore my letter, and imposed silence on my advocate.
As I had promised no longer to play the lover at my window, the farce of
obedience was kept up for several days. Ogling being interdicted, my court-
ship was doomed to enter in at my Helena’s obdurate ears. One night I at-
tended under her balcony with musicians; the first bars of the serenade were
already playing, when a swaggering blade, sword in hand, rushed in upon our
harmony, laying about him to the right and left, to the utter discomfiture of the
troop. Such mad warfare fired my tilting propensities to equal fury. The
affray became serious. Donna Helena and oe maid were disturbed by the
clash of swords, They looked out at their lattice, and saw two men engaged.
HISTORY OF DON GASTON DE COGOLLOS. 321
Their cries roused Don George and his servants. The whole neighbourhood
was assembled to part the combatants. But they came too late: on the field
of battle, bathed in his own blood and almost lifeless, lay my unfortunate body.
They carried me to my aunt’s, and sent for the best surgical assistance in the
lace.
All the world was merciful, and wished me well, especially Donna Helena;
whose heart was now unmasked, Her forced severity yielded to her natural
feelings, Would you believe it? The cold, relentless, insensible, was kindled
into the warmest of love’s votaries. She wore out the remainder of the night
in weeping with her faithful confidante, and giving her cousin, Don Austin de
Olighera, to perdition: for him they taxed with the plotted massacre, and the
bill was a true one. He could hide his ‘heart as well as his cousin; he there-
fore watched my motions, without seeming to suspect them; and fancying them
not to be without a corresponding impulse, he resolved not to be sacrificed
with impunity. The accident was an awkward one to me, but it ended in
overpowering rapture. Dangerous as my wound was, the surgeons soon
brought me about. I was still confined to my chamber, when my aunt, Donna
Eleonora, went over to Don George, and made proposals for Donna Helena,
He consented the more readily to the marriage, as he never expected to see
Don Austin again. ‘The good old man was afraid of his daughter’s not liking
me, because cousin Olighera had kept her company; but she was so tractable
to the parental behest, as to furnish grounds for believing that in Spain, as in
other countries, the species, not the individual, is the object with the sex.
Felicia, at our first private meeting, communicated the emotions of her mis-
tress on my misfortune. Now, like another Paris, I thought Troy well lost for
my Helen, and blessed the happy consequences of my wound. Don George
allowed me to speak with his daughter in presence of her attendant. Whata
heavenly interview! I begged and prayed the lady so earnestly to tell me
whether her sufferance of my vows was forced upon her by her father, that she
at length confessed her obedience to be in unison with her inclinations. After
so delicious a declaration, my whole soul was given up to love and pleasurable
gratifications. Our nuptials were to be graced by a magnificent procession of
all the principal people in Coria and the neighbourhood.
I gave a splendid party at my aunt’s country-house, in the suburbs on the
side of Manroi. Don George, his daughter, the family, and friends on both
sides were present. There was a concert of vocal and instrumental music,
with a company of strolling players, to represent a comedy. In the middle of
the festivities, some one whispered me that a man wanted to speak with me in
the hall. I got up from table to go and see who it was. The stranger looked
like a gentleman’s servant. He put a letter into my hand, containing these
words: ‘*If you have any sense of honour, as a knight of your order ought to
have, you will not fail to attend to-morrow morning in the plain of Manroi.
There you will find -an antagonist, ready to give you your revenge for his
former attack upon your person, or, what he rather hopes and meditates, to
spoil your connubial transports with Donna Helena.
‘*DON AUSTIN DE OLIGHERA.”
If love is a Spanish passion, revenge is the Spanish lunacy. Such a note as
this was not to be read with composure. At the mere subscription of Don
Austin, there kindled in my veins a fire, which almost made me forget the
claims of hospitality. I was tempted to steal away from my company, and
seek my antagonist on the instant. For fear of disturbing the merriment,
however, I bridled in my rage, and said to the messenger: My friend, you
may tell your employer that I shall meet him on the appointed spot at sun-rise,
and resume the contest with obstinacy, equal to his own,
322 GIL BLAS.
After sending this answer, I resumed my seat at table with so composed a
mien, that no creature had the least suspicion of what had occurred. Durin
the rest of the day, I gave myself up to the pleasures of the festival, which
ended not till midnight. The guests then returned to town, but I staid behind,
under pretext of taking the air on the following morning. Instead of going to
bed, I watched for the dawn with maddening impatience. With the first ray
I got on horseback, and rode alone towards Manroi. On the plain was a
horseman, riding up to me at full speed. I pushed forward, and we met half-
way. It was myrival. Knight, said he, superciliously, it is against my will
that I meet you a second time on the same occasion, but you have brought
your fate on yourself. After the adventure of the serenade, you ought to have
waived your pretensions to Don George’s daughter, or at least to have been
assured that the support of them must cost you dearer than a single encounter.
You are too much elated, answered I, with an advantage which is less owing,
perhaps, to your superior skill, than to the darkness of the night. Remember,
that victory is of the same blind family with fortune. It shall be my lot to
teach you, replied he with insulting scorn, that I have unsealed the eyes of
both.
At this proud defiance, we both dismounted, tied our horses to a tree, and
engaged with equal fury. I must candidly acknowledge the prowess of my
antagonist, who was a consummate master of fencing. My life was exposed to
the greatest possible danger. Nevertheless, as the strong is often vanquished
by the weak, my rival, in spite of all his science, received a thrust through the
heart, and fell a lifeless corpse.
I immediately returned, and told a confidential servant what had happened,
requesting him to take horse and acquaint my aunt, before the officers of justice
could get intelligence of the event. He was also to obtain from hera supply of
money and jewels, and then join me at the first inn as you enter Plazencia.
All this was performed within three hours. Donna Eleonora rather triumph-
ed than mourned over a catastrophe, which restored my injured honour ; and
sent me large remittances for my travels abroad, till the affair had blown over.
Not to dwell on indifferent circumstances, suffice it to say, that I embarked
for Italy, and equipped myself so as to make a respectable figure at the several
courts,
While I was endeavouring to beguile the weary hours of absence, Helena
was weeping at home from the same cause. Instead of joining in the family
resentment, her heart was panting for a compromise, and for my speedy return.
Six months had already elapsed, and I firmly believe that her constancy would
have been proof against the track of time, had time been seconded by no more
powerful ally. Don Blas de Combados, a gentleman from the western coast
of Galicia, came to Coria, to take possession of a rich inheritance unsuccessfully
contested by a near relation. He liked that country so much better than his
own, that he madeit his principal residence. Combados was a personable man.
His manners were gentle and well-bred, his conversation most insinuating.
With such a passport, he soon got into the best company, and knew all the
family concerns of the place.
It was not long before he heard of Don George’s daughter, and of her extra-
ordinary beauty. This touched his curiosity nearly ; he was eager to behold so
formidable a lady. For this purpose, he endeavoured to worm himself into the
good graces of her father, and succeeded so well, that the old gentleman, already
looking on him as a son-in-law, gave him free admission to the house, and the
liberty of conversing with Donna Helena in his presence, The Galician soon
became deeply enamoured of her : indeed, it was the common fate of all who
had ever beheld her charms, He opened his heart to Don George, who con-
HISTORY OF DON GASTON DE COGOLLOS. 323
sented to his paying his addresses, but told him that so far from offering violence
to her inclination, he should never interfere in her choice. Hereupon Don Blas
pressed every device that impassioned ingenuity could suggest into his service,
to melt and warm the icicles of reserve ; but the lady was impenetrable to his
arts, fast bound in the fetters of an earlier love. Felicia, however, was in the
new suitor’s interest, convinced of his merit by the universal argument. All the
faculties of her soul were called forth in hiscause. On the other hand, the father
urged his wishes and entreaties. Thus was Donna Helena tormented for a
whole year with their importunities, and yet her faith continued unshaken.
Combados finding that Don George and Felicia took up his cause with very
little success, proposed an expedient for conquering prejudice to the following
effect. We will suppose a merchant of Coria to have received a letter from his
Italian correspondent, in which, among the news of the day, there shall be the
following paragragh: ‘*A Spanish gentleman, Don Gaston de Cogollos, has
lately arrived at the court of Parma. He is said to be nephew and sole heir to
a rich widow of Coria. He is paying his addresses to a nobleman’s daughter ;
but the family wishes to ascertain the validity of his pretensions. Send me
word, therefore, whether you know this Don Gaston, together with the amount
of his aunt’s fortune. On your answer the marriage will depend. Parma,...
day of, &c.”
The old gentleman considered this trick as a mere ebullition of humour, a
lawful stratagem of amorous warfare ; and the jade of a go-between, with con-
science still more callous than her master’s, was delighted with the probability
of the manceuvre. It seemed to be so much the more happily imagined, as they
knew Helena to be a proud girl, capable of taking decisive measures, in the
moment of surprise and indignation. Don George undertook to be the herald
of my fickleness, and by way of colouring the contrivance more naturally, to
confront the pretended correspondent with her. ‘This project was executed as
soon as formed. ‘The father, with counterfeit emotions of displeasure, said to
Donna Helena: Daughter, it is not enough now to tell you that our relations
inveigh against an alliance with Don Austin’s murderer ; a still stronger reason
henceforward presses, to detach you from Don Gaston. It may well‘overwhelm
you with shame, to have been his dupe so long. Here is an undeniable proof.
of his inconstancy. Only read this letter just received by a merchant of Coria
from Italy. The trembling Helena caught at this forged paper ; glanced over
the writing ; then weighed every expression, and stood aghast at the import of
the whole. A keen pang of disappointment wrung from her a few reluctant
tears ; but pride came to her assistance ; she wiped away the falling drops of
weakness, and said to her father in a determined tone: Sir, you have just been
witness of my folly ; now bear testimony to my triumph over myself. The de-
lusion is past ; Don Gaston is the object of my utter contempt. Iam ready to
meet Don Blas at the altar, and be beforehand with the traitor in the pledge of
our transferred affections. Don George, transported with joy at this change,
embraced his daughter, extolled her spirit to the skies, and hastened the ne-
cessary preparations, with all the self-complacency of a successful plotter.
Thus was Donna Helena snatched from me. She threw herself into the arms
of Combados in a pet, not listening to the secret whispers of love within her
breast, nor suspecting a story which ought to have seemed so improbable in the
annals of true passion. ‘The haughty are always the victims of their own rash
conclusions, Resentment of insulted beauty triumphed wholly over the sugges-
tions of tenderness. And yet, a few days after marriage, there came over her
some feelings of remorse for her precipitation ; it struck her that the letter
might have been a forgery ; and the very possibility disturbed her peace. But
the enamoured Don Blas left his wife no time to nurse up thoughts injurious to
a
324 GIL BLAS.
their new-found joys ; a succession of gaiety and pleasure kept her in a thought-
less whirl, and shielded her from the pangs of unavailing repentance.
She appeared to be in high good humour with so spirit-stirring a husband ;
so that they were living together in perfect unanimity, when my aunt adjusted
my affair with Don Austin’s relations. Of this she wrote me word to Italy. I
returned on the wings of love. Donna Eleonora, not having announced the
marriage, informed me of it on my arrival ; and remarking what pain it gave
me, said: You are in the wrong, nephew, to shew so much feeling for a faith-
less fair. Banish from your memory a person so unworthy to share in its tender
recollections.
As my aunt did not know how Donna Helena had been played upon, she
had reason to talk as she did: nor could she have given me better advice. To
affect indifference, if not to conquer my passion, was my bounden duty. Yet
there could be no harm in just inquiring by what means this union had been
brought to bear. To get at the truth, I determined on applying to Felicia’s
friend Theodora, There I met with Felicia herself, who was confounded at
my unwelcome presence, and would have escaped from the necessity of explan-
ation. But I stopped her. Why do you avoid me? said I. Has your per-
jured mistress forbidden you to give ear to my complaints ? or would you make
a merit with the ungrateful woman, of your voluntary refusal.
Sir, answered the plotting abigail, I confess my ‘fault, and throw myself on
your mercy, Your appearance here has filled me with remorse. My mistress
has been betrayed, and unhappily in part by my agency. The particulars of
their infernal device followed this avowal, with an Bs srk AF to make me amends
for its lamentable consequence. ‘To this effect, she offered me her services with
her mistress, and promised to undeceive her; in a word, to work night and
day, that she might soften the rigour of my sufferings, and open the career of
ope.
I pass over the numberless contradictions she experienced, before she could
accomplish the projected interview. It was at length arranged to admit me
privately, while Don Blas was at his hunting-seat. The plot did not linger.
The husband went into the country, and they sent for me to his lady’s apart-
ment.
My onset was reproachful in the extreme, but my mouth was soon shut upon
the subject. It is useless to look back upon the past, said thelady. It can be
no part of our present intention to work upon each other’s feelings ; and you
are grievously mistaken, if you fancy me inclined to flatter your aspiring hopes.
My sole inducement for receiving you here was to tell you personally, that you
have only henceforth to forget me. Perhaps I might have been better satisfied
with my lot, had it been united with yours; but since heaven has ordered it
otherwise, we must submit to its decrees.
What! madam, answered I, is it not enough to have lost you, to see my
successful rival in quiet possession of all my soul holds dear, but I must also
banish you from my thoughts? You would tear from me even my passion, my
only remaining blessing! And think you that a man, whom you have once en-
chanted, can recover his self-possession? Know yourself better, and cease to
enforce impracticable behests. Well then! if so, rejoined she with hurried im-
portunity, do you cease to flatter yourself with interesting my gratitude or my
pity. In one short word, the wife of Don Blas shall never be the mistress of
on Gaston. Let us at once end a conversation at which delicacy revolts in
spite of virtue, and peremptorily forbids its longer continuance.
I now threw myself at the lady’s feet in despair. All the powers of language
and of tears were called forth to soften her. But even this served only to excite
some inbred sentiments of compassion, stifled as soon as born, and sacrificed at
HISTORY OF DON GASTON DE COGOLLOS. 325
the shrine of duty. After having fruitlessly exhausted all my stores of tender
ersuasion, rage took possession of my breast. I drew my sword, and would
ve fallen on its point before the inexorable Helena, but she saw my design
and prevented it. Stay your rash hand, Cogollos, said she. Is it thus that you
consult my reputation? In dying thus and here, you will brand me with dis-_
honour, and my husband with the imputation of murder.
In the agony of my despair, far from yielding to these suggestions, I only
struggled against the preventive efforts of the two women, and should have
struggled too successfully, if Don Blas had not appeared to second them. He
had been apprized of our assignation ; and instead of going into the country,
had concealed himself behind the hangings, to overhear our conference. Don
Gaston, cried he, as he arrested my uplifted arm, recall your scattered senses,
and no longer give a loose to these mad transports.
Here I could hold no longer. Is it for you, said I, to turn me from my re-
solution? You ought rather yourself to plunge a dagger in my bosom, My
love, with all its train of miseries, is an insult to you. Have you not surprised
me in your wife’s apartment at this unseasonable hour? what greater provoca-
tion can you want for your revenge? Stab me, and rid yourself of a man, who
can only give up the adoration of Donna Helena with his life. It is in vain,
answered Don Blas, that you endeavour to interest my honour in your destruc-
tion. Youare sufficiently punished for your rashness ; and my wife’s imprudence,
in giving you this opportunity of indulging it, is sanctified by the purity of her
sentiments, Take my advice, Cogollos: shrink not effeminately from your
wayward destiny, but bear up against it with the patient courage of a hero.
The prudent Galician, by such language, gradually composed the ferment of
my mind, and waked me once more to virtue. I withdrew in the determination
of removing far from the scene of my folly, and went for Madrid, two days
afterwards, There, pursuing the career of fortune and preferment, I appeared
at court, and laid myself out for connections, But it was my ill luck to attach
myself particularly to the Marquis of Villareal, a Portuguese grandee, who,
lying under a suspicion of intending to emancipate his country from the
Spanish yoke, is now in the castle of Alicant. As the Duke of Lerma knew
me to be closely connected with this nobleman, he gave orders for my arrest
and detention here. That minister thought me capable of engaging in such a
project—he could not have offered a more outrageous affront to a man of noble
birth and a Castilian,
Don Gaston thus ended his story. By way of consolation I said to him,
Illustrious sir, your honour can receive no taint from this temporary detainer,
and your interest will probably be promoted by it in the end. When the Duke
of Lerma shall be convinced of your innocence, he will not fail to give you a
je ene sinaes post, and thus retrieve the character of a gentleman unjustly accused
of treason.
Cu, VIL—Scipio finds Gil Blas out in the tower of Segovia, and brings him a
budget of news.
OvuR conversation was interrupted by Tordesillas, who came into the room, and
addressed me thus: Signor Gil Blas, I have just been speaking with a young
man at the prison gate. He inquired if you were not here, and looked much
mortified at my refusal to satisfy his curiosity. Noble governor, said he, with
tears in his eyes, do not reject my most humble petition. I am Signor de
Santillane’s principal domestic, and you will do an act of charity by allowing
metosee him. You pass fora kind-hearted gentleman in Segovia ; I hope you
will not deny me the favour of conversing for a few minutes with my dear mas-
326 GIL BLAS.
ter, who is unfortunate rather than criminal. In short, continued Don Andrew,
the lad was so importunate, that I promised to comply with his wishes this
evening.
| I cred Tordesillas that he could not have pleased me better than by
bringing this young man to me, who could probably communicate tidings of the
lest importance. I waited with impatience for the entrance of my faithful
Scipio ; since I could not doubt him to be the man, nor was I mistaken in my
conjecture. He was introduced at the time appointed ; and his joy, which
only mine could equal, broke forth into the most whimsical demonstrations.
On my side, in the ecstasy of delight, I stretched out my arms to him, and he
rushed into them with no courtly measured embrace. All distinctions of master
and dependent were levelled in the sympathetic rapture of our meeting.
When our transports had subsided a little, I inquired into the state of my
household. You have neither household nor house, answered he: to spare you
a long string of questions, I will sum up your worldly concerns in two words.
Your property has been pillaged at both ends, both by the banditti of the law
and by your own retainers, who, regarding you asa ruined man,'paid them-
selves their own wages out of whatever they found that was portable, Luckily
for you, I had the dexterity to save from their harpy clutches two large bags of
double pistoles. Salero, in whose custody I deposited them, will make resti-
tution on your release, which cannot be far distant, as you were put upon his
majesty’s pension list of prisoners without the Duke of Lerma’s knowledge or
consent,
I asked Scipio how he knew his excellency to have had no share in my arrest.
You may depend on it, answered he, my information is undeniable. One of
my friends in the Duke of Uzeda’s confidence acquainted me with all the cir-
cumstances of your imprisonment. Calderona, having discovered by a spy that
Signora Sirena, with the handle of an alias to her name, was receiving night
visits from the Prince of Spain, and that the Count de Lemos managed that
intrigue by the panderism of Signor de Santillane, determined to be revenged
on the whole knot. To this end he waited on the Duke of Uzeda, and dis-
covered the whole affair. The duke, overjoyed at such a fine opportunity of
ruining his enemy, did not fail to bestir himself. He laid his information before
the king, and painted the prince’s danger in the most lively colours. His
majesty was much angered, and shewed that he was so, by sending Sirena to
the nunnery provided for such frail sisters, banishing the Count de Lemos, and
condemning Gil Blas to perpetual imprisonment.
This, pursued Scipio, is what my friend told me. Hence, you gather your
misfortune to be the Duke of Uzeda’s handiwork, or rather Calderona’s,
Thus it seemed probable that my affairs might be reinstated in time ; that
the Duke of Lerma, chagrined at his nephew’s banishment, would move heaven
and earth for that nobleman’s recall ; and it might not be too much to expect
that his excellency would not forget me. What a delicate gipsy is hope! She
wheedled me out of all anxiety about my shattered fortunes, and made me as
light-hearted as if I had good reason to be so, My prison looked not like the
dungeon of perpetual misery, but like the vestibule to a more distinguished
station. For thus ran the train of my reasoning : Don Fernando Borgia, Father
Jerome of Florence, and more than all, Friar Louis of Aliaga, who may thank
him for his place about the king’s person, are the prime minister’s partisans.
With the aid of such powerful friends, his excellency will bear down all rag a8
sition, even supposing no change to take place in the political barometer. But
his majesty’s health is very precarious, ‘The first act of a new reign would be
to recall the Count de Lemos; he would not feel himself at home in the young
monarch’s presence till he had introduced me at court ; and the young monarch
SCIPIOS FIDELITY TOWARDS GIL BLAS. 327
would not sit easy on his throne till he had showered benefits on my head.
Thus, feasting by anticipation on the pleasures of futurity, I became callous to
existing evils. The two bags, snug in the goldsmith’s custody, were no bad
doubles to the part which hope acted in this shifting pantomime.
It was impossible not to express my gratitude to Scipio for his zeal and
honesty. I offered him half the salvage, but he rejected it. I expect, said he,
a very different acknowledgment. Astonished as much at his mysterious
claim as at his refusal, I asked what more I could do for him. Let us never
part, answered he. Allow me to link my fate with yours. I feel for you what
I never felt for any other master. And on my part, my good fellow, said I,
you may rest assured that your attachment is not thrown away. You caught
my fancy at first sight. We must have been born under Libra or Gemini,
where friendship is lord of the ascendant. I willingly accept your proffered
partnership, and will commence business by prevailing with the warden to
immure you along with me in this tower. That is the very thing, exclaimed he.
You were beforehand with me, for I was just going to beg that favour. Your
company is dearer to me than libertyitself. I shall only just go to Madrid now
and then, to snuff the gale of the ministerial atmosphere, and try whether any
scent lies which may be favourable for your pursuit. Thus will you combine in
me a bosom friend, a trusty messenger, and an unsuspected spy.
These advantages were too important for me to forego them. I therefore
_kept so useful a person about me, with leave of the obliging warden, who
would not stand in the way of so soothing a relief to the weariness of solitude.
Cu. VIIL.—Scipio’s first journey to Madrid: its object and success. Gil Blas
falls sick. The consequence of his illness.
IF it is a common proverb that our direst enemies are those of our own house-
hold, the converse ought equally to be admitted among the saws of a more can-
did experience. After suchincontestable proofs of Scipio’s zeal, he became to
me like another self. All distinction of place was confounded between Gil Blas
and his secretary ; all insolence was dropped on the one hand, all cringing on
the other. ‘Their lodging, bed, and board were in common.
Scipio’s conversation was of a very lively turn ; he might have been dubbed
the Spanish Momus, without any derogation to the Punch of the Pantheon.
But he had a long head, as well as a fanciful brain, combining the characters of
counsellor and jester. My friend, said I, one day, what do you think of writing
to the Duke of Lerma? It could, methinks, do no harm. Why, as to that,
answered he, the great are such cameleons, that there is no knowing where to
have them. At all events you may risk it ; though I would not lay the postage
of your letter on its success. The minister loves you, it is true ; but then poli-
tical love lacks memory, as much as personal love lacks visual discrimination.
Out of sight, out of mind ! is at once the motto and the stigma of these gentry.
True as this may be in the general, replied I, my patron is a glorious excep-
tion. His kindness lives in my recollection. I am persuaded that he suffers
for my sufferings, and that they are incessantly preying on his spirits. We must
give him credit for only waiting till the king’s anger shall pass away. Be it so,
resumed he; I wish you may not reckon without your host. Assail his excel-
lency then with an epistle to stir the waters. I will engage to deliver it into his
own hands. Pen, ink, and paper being brought, I composed a specimen of
eloquence which Scipio declared to be a paragon of pathos, and Tordesillas
preferred, for the cant of sermonizing prolixity, to the old archbishop’s homilies.
I flattered myself that there would be tears in the Duke of Lerma’s eyes, and
distraction in his aspect, at the detail of miseries which existed only on paper.
328 GIL BLAS.
In that assurance, I despatched my messenger, who no sooner got to Madrid,
than he went to the minister’s. Meeting with an old domestic of my acquaint-
ance, he had no difficulty in gaining access to the duke. My lord, said Scipio
to his excellency, as he delivered the packet, one of your most devoted servants,
lying at his length on straw, in a damp and dreary dungeon at Segovia, most
humbly supplicates for the perusal of this letter, which a tender-hearted turnkey
has furnished him with the means of writing. The minister opened the letter,
and glanced over the contents. But though he found there a motive and a cue
for passion, enough to amaze all his faculties at once, far from drowning the
floor with briny secretions, he cleaved the ear of his household, and smote the
heart of my courier with horrid speech : Friend, tell Santillane that he has a
great deal of impudence to address me, after so rank an offence, worthily con-
fronted by the severe sentence of the king. Under that sentence let the wretch
drag out his days, nor look to my mediation for a respite.
Scipio, though neither dull nor muddy-mettled, began to be unpregnant of
this defeated cause. Yet he was not so pigeon-livered as to retire without an
effort in my favour. My lord, replied he, this poor prisoner will give up the
ghost with grief, at the recital of your excellency’s displeasure. The duke an-
swered like a prime minister, with a supercilious corrugation of features, and a
decisive revolution of his front to some more prosperous suitor. ‘This he did,
to cover his own share in the shame of pimping ; and such treatment must all
those hireling scavengers expect, who rake in the filth and ordure of rotten
statesmen, courtiers, and politicians.
My secretary came back to Segovia and delivered the result of his mission.
And now behold me, sunk deeper than on the first day of my imprisonment, in
the gulf of affliction and despair ! The Duke of Lerma’s turning king’s evidence
gave a hanging posture to my affairs. My courage was run out ;’and though
they did all they could to keep up my spirits, the agitation and distress of my
mind threw me into a fever.
The warden, who took a lively interest in my recovery, fancying in his
unmedical head that physicians cured fevers, brought me a double dose of
death in two of that doleful deity’s most practised executioners. Signor Gil
Blas, said he, as he ushered in their grisly forms, here are two godsons of
Hippocrates, who are come to feel your pulse, and to augment the number of
their trophies in your person. I was so prejudiced against the whole faculty,
that I should certainly have given them a very discouraging reception, had life
retained its usual charms in my estimation ; but being bent on my departure
from this vale of tears, I felt obliged to Tordesillas for hastening my journey,
by a safer conveyance than the crime of suicide.
My good sir, said one of the pair, your recovery will, under Providence, de-
pend on your entire confidence in our skill. Implicit confidence! answered I:
with your assistance, I am fully persuaded that a few days will place me beyond
the reach of fever, and all the shocks that flesh is heir to. Yes! with the
blessing of Heaven, rejoined he, it is a consummation devoutly to be wished,
and easily to be effected. At all events, our best endeavours shall not be want-
ing. And indeed it was no joke: for they got me into such fine training for
the other world, that few of my material particles were left in this. Already
had Don Andrew, observing me fumble with the sheets, and smile upon my
fingers’ ends, and thinking there was but one way, sent for a Franciscan to
shew it me : already had the good father, having mumbled over the salvation of
my soul, retired to the refection of his own body: and my own opinion leaned
to the immediate necessity of making a good end. I beckoned Scipio to my
bedside, My dear friend, said I, in the faint accents of a tortured and evacuated
patient, I give and bequeath to you one of the bags in Gabriel's possession ;
GIL BLAS IS SET AT LIBERTY. 329
the other you must carry to my father and mother in the Asturias, who, if still
living, must be in narrow circumstances. * But, alas! I fear, they have not been
able to bear up against my ingratitude. Muscada’s report of my unnatural be-
haviour must have brought their grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. Should
Heaven have fortified their tender hearts against.my indifference, you will give
them the bag of doubloons, with assurances of my dying remorse: and, if they
are no more, I charge you to lay out the money in masses for the repose of
their souls and of mine. Then did I stretch out my hand, which he bathed in
silent tears, It is not always true, that the mourning of an heir is mirth in
masquerade,
For some hours I fancied myself outward-bound, and on the point of sailing ;
but the wind changed, My pilots having quitted the helm, and left the vessel
to the steerage of nature, the danger of shipwreck disappeared. The fever,
mutinying against its commanding officers, gave all their prognostics the lie,
and acted contrary to general orders. I got better by degrees, in mind as well
as in body. My consolation was all derived from within. I looked at wealth
and honours with the eye of a dying anchorite, and blessed the malady which
restored my soul. I abjured courts, politics, and the Duke of Lerma. If ever
my prison doors were opened, it was my fixed resolve to buy a cottage, and
live like a philosopher.
My bosom friend applauded my design, and to further its execution, under-
took a second journey to solicit my release, by the intervention of a clever girl
about the person of the prince’s nurse. He contended that a prison was a
prison still, in spite of kind indulgence and good cheer. In this I agreed, and
gave him leave to depart, with a fervent prayer to Heaven that we might soon
take possession of our hermitage. '
Cu. IX.—Scipio’s second journey to Madrid. Gil Bilas is set at liberty on cere
tain conditions. Their departure from the tower of Segovia, and conversation
on their journey.
WHILE waiting for Scipio’s return from Madrid, I began a course of study.
Tordesillas furnished me with more books than I wanted. He borrowed them
from an old officer who could not read, but had fitted up a magnificent library,
that he might pass fora man of learning. Above all, I delighted in moral
essays and treatises, because they abounded in common-places according with
my antipathy to courts and philosophic relish of solitude.
Three weeks elapsed before I heard a syllable from my negotiator, who
returned at length with a cheerful countenance, and news to the following
effect : By the intercession of a hundred pistoles with the chambermaid, and her
intercession with her mistress, the Prince of Spain has been prevailed with to
plead for your enlargement with his royal father. I hastened hither to announce
these happy tidings, and must return immediately to put the last hand to my
work. With these words, he left me, and went back to court.
At the week’s end my expeditious agent returned, with the intelligence that
the prince had procured my liberty, not without some difficulty. On the same
day my generous keeper confirmed the assurance in person, with the kindest
congratulations, and the following notice :—Your prison doors are open, but on
two conditions, which I am sorry that my duty obliges me to announce, because
they will probably be disagreeable to you. His majesty expressly forbids you to
shew your face at court, or to be found within the limits of the two Castiles on
this day month. JI am extremely sorry that you are interdicted from court.
And I am delighted at it, answered I. Witness all the powers above! I asked
the king for only one favour; he has granted me two.
330 ° GIL BLAS.
With my liberty thus confirmed, I hired a couple of mules, on which we
mounted the next day, after taking leave of Cogollos, and thanking Tordesillas
a thousand times for all his instances of friendship. We set forward cheerfully
on the road to Madrid, to draw our deposit out of Signor Gabriel’s hands,
amounting to athousand doubloons. \On the road my fellow-traveller observed:
If we are not rich enough to purchase a splendid property, we can at least
secure ease and competency to ourselves. A cabin, answered I, would be large
enough for my most ambitious thoughts. Though scarcely at the middle period
of life, the world has lost its charms for me; its hopes, its fears, its cares, its
duties, are all absorbed in the selfishness of philosophical retirement. Inde-
pendently of these principles, I can assure you I have painted for myself a rural
landscape, with a foreground of innocent pleasures, and pastoral simplicity in
the perspective. Already does the enamel of the meadows glitter under my
eyes; already does the river’s murmur accord with the winged chorus of the
grove: hunting exasperates the manly virtues, and fishing preaches patience.
Only figure to yourself, my friend, what a continual round of amusement soli-
tude may furnish, and you will pant to be admitted of her crew. Then for
the economy of our table, the simplest will be the cheapest, and of course the
best. Unadulterated Ceres shall be our official caterer: when hunger shall
have tamed our fastidious appetites into sobriety, a mumbled crust will relish
like an ortolan. The supreme delight of eating is not in the thing ate, but in
the palate of him who eats; a proposition in culinary philosophy, proved by
the frequent loathing of my own stomach, through a long series of ministerial
dinners. Abstemiousness is a luxury of the most exquisite refinement, and the
best recipe in the materia medica.
With your good leave, Signor Gil Blas, interrupted my secretary, I am not
altogether of your mind respecting the luscious treat of abstemiousness. Why
should we mess like the bankrupt sages of antiquity? Surely we may indulge
the carnal man a little, without any reasonable offence to the spiritual. Since
we have, by the blessing of Providence and my forecast, wherewithal to keep
the spit and the spigot in exercise, do not let-us take up our abode with famine
and wretchedness. As soon as we get settled, we must stock our cellar, and
establish a respectable larder, like people who know what is what, and do not
separate themselves from the vulgar crowd to renounce the good things of this
life, but to taste them with a more exquisite relish, As Hesiod says,
Enjoy thy riches with a liberal soul ;
Plenteous the feast, and smiling be the bowl.
And again,
To stint the wine a frugal husband shows,
When from the middle of the cask it flows.
What the devil, Master Scipio, interrupted I in my turn, you can cap verses
out of the Greek poets! And pray where did you get acquainted with Hesiod ?
In very learned company, answered he. I lived some time with a walking
dictionary at Salamanca, a fellow up to the elbows in quotation and commen-
tary. He could put a large volume together like a house of cards. His library
furnished him with a hodge-podge of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin common-
ese — he translated into buckram Castilian. As I was gr Ye 0
some tags of verses, stings of epigrams, and sage truisms stuck by the way.
With such an apparatus, Fehied aohe memory must be most philosophically
stocked. But, not to lose sight of our future prospects, whereabouts in Spain
had we best fix our Socratic abode? My voice is for Arragon, resumed my
counsellor, We shall there enjoy all the beauties of nature, and lead the life of
YOVFUL MEETING OF GIL BLAS AND DON ALPHONSO. 331
Paradise. Well, then, for Arragon! said I, May it teem with all the dear
delights that youthful poets fancy when they dream !
Cu. X.—Their doings at Madrid. The rencounter of Gil Blas in the street,
and its consequences.
ON our arrival in Madrid, we alighted at a little public-house where Scipio had
been accustomed to put up, whence our first visit was to my banker, Salero. He
received us very cordially, and expressed the highest satisfaction at my release.
Indeed, added he, your untoward fate touched me so nearly as to change my
views of a political alliance. ‘The fortunes of courtiers are like castles in the
air: so I have married my daughter Gabriela to a wealthy trader. You have
acted very wisely, answered I; for besides that a bird in the hand is worth
two in a bush, when a plodding citizen aspires to the honour of bringing a man
of fashion into his family, he very often has an impertinent puppy for his son-
in-law.
Then changing the topic, and coming to the point: Signor Gabriel, pursued
I, we came to talk a little about the two thousand pistoles which. ... Your
money is all ready, said the goldsmith, interrupting me. He then took us into
his closet, and delivered the two bags, carefully labelled with my name on
them.
I thanked Salero for his exactness, and heaven in my sleeve for my escape
from his daughter. At our inn we counted over the money, and found it right,
deducting fifty doubloons for the expenses of my enlargement. Our thoughts
were now wholly bent upon Arragon. My secretary undertook to buy a car-
riage and two mules. It was my office to provide household and body linen.
During my peregrinations for that purpose, I met Baron Steinbach, the officer
in the German Guards with whom Don Alphonso had been brought up.
I touched my hat to him; he knew me again, and returned my greeting
warmly. My joy is extreme, said I, at seeing your lordship in such fine health,
to say nothing of my wish to inquire after Don Cesar and Don Alphonso de
Leyva. They are both in Madrid, answered he, and staying at my house. They
came to town about three months ago, to be presented on occasion of Don
Alphonso’s promotion. He has been appointed Governor of Valencia, on the
score of old family claims, without having in any shape pushed his interest at
court. Nothing could be more grateful to his feelings, or prove more strongly
our royal master’s goodness, who delights to recognize the merits of ancestry
in the persons of their descendants.
Though I knew more of this matter than Steinbach, I kept my knowledge in
the background. Yet so lively was my impatience to hail my old masters, that
he would not damp my ardour by delay. I had a mind to try Don Alphonso,
whether he still retained his regard for me. He was playing at chess with
Baroness Steinbach. On my entrance, he started up from his game, ran
towards me, and squeezing me tight in his embrace: Santillane, said he, with
demonstrations of the sincerest joy, at length, then, you are restored to my
heart. I am delighted at it! It was not my fault that we ever parted. You
may remember how strongly I urged you not to withdraw from the Castle of
Leyva. You were deaf to my entreaties. But I must not chide your obstinacy,
because its motive was the peace of the family. Yet you ought to have let me
hear from you, and to have spared my fruitless inquiries at Grenada, where my
brother-in-law, Don Ferdinand, sent me word that -you were.
And now tell me what you are doing at Madrid. Of course you have some
situation here. Be assured that I shall always take a lively interest in your
concerns, Sir, answered I, it is but four months singe I occupied a considerahie
332 hy aT GIL BLAS.
post at court. I had the honour of being the Duke of Lerma’s confidential
secretary. Can it be possible? exclaimed Don ey as if he could
scarcely believe his ears. What, were you so near the person of the prime
minister? I then related how I had gained and lost his favour, and ended with
avowing my determination to buy a cottage and garden with the wreck of my
shattered fortunes,
The son of Don Cesar heard me attentively, and made this answer: My
dear Gil Blas, you know how I have always loved you; nor shall you longer
be fortune’s puppet. I will set you above her vagaries, by securing you an
independence. Since you declare for a country life, a little estate of ours near
Lirias, about four leagues from Valencia, shall be settled on you. You are
acquainted with the spot. Such a present we can make, without putting our-
selves to the least inconvenience, I can answer for my father’s joining in the
act, and for Seraphina’s entire approbation.
I threw myself at Don Alphonso’s feet, who raised me immediately. More
penetrated by his affection than by his bounty, I pressed his hand and said,
Sir, your conduct charms me. Your noble gift is the more welcome, as it
precedes the knowledge of a service it has been in my power to render you ;
and I had rather owe it to your generosity, than to your gratitude. This
governor of my making did not know what to understand by the hint, and
pressed for an explanation. I gave it in full, to his utter astonishment. Nei-
ther he nor Baron Steinbach could ever have the slightest suspicion that the
government of Valencia was owing to my interest at court. Yet having no
reason to doubt the fact, my friend proposed to grant me an annuity of two
thousand ducats, in addition to the little farm at Lirias.
Hold your hand, Signor Don Alphonso! exclaimed I at this offer. You
must not set my avarice afloat again. {[ am myself a living witness, that
fortune may give superfluities to her favourites, but has no competence to be-
stow.) With pleasure will I accept of the estate at Lirias, where my present
property will be sufficient for all my wants, Rather than increase my cares
with my possessions, I would build a hospital out of my existing funds,
Riches are a burden : and it must be a foolish animal that would bear fardels
in the manger or the field.
While we were talking after this fashion, Don Cesar came in. His joy
was not less than his son’s at the sight of me; and being informed of the
family obligations, he again pressed me to accept of the annuity, which I
again refused. When the writings were drawn, the father and son made the
assignment their joint act and deed, transferring to me the fee simple, and
putting me in immediate possession. My secretary half stared the eyes out of
his head, when I told him we had a landed estate of our own, and how we
came by it. What is the value of this little freehold? said he. Five hundred
ducats per annum, answered I, and the farm in high cultivation, within pre |
fence. I have often been there during my stewardship. There is a
house on the banks of the Guadalaviar, in a little hamlet, surrounded by a
charming country.
What pleases me better than all, cried Scipio, is that we shall have plenty
of sporting, rare living, and excellent wine. Come, master, let us leave this
crowded city, and hasten to our hermitage. I long to be there as much as you
can do, answered I; but I must first go to the Asturias. My father and
mother are not in comfortable circumstances. They shall therefore end their
days with me at Lirias. Heaven, perhaps, has thrown this windfall in my
way to try my filial duty, and would punish me for the neglect of it. Scipio
approved my purpose, and urged its speedy execution. Yes, my friend, said I,
we will set out as soon as possible. I shall consider it as my dear delight to
GIL BLAS SETS OUT FOR THE ASTURTAS. 333
share the gifts of fortune with the authors of my existence. “We shall soon be
settled in our country retreat ; and then will I write these two Latin verses
over the door of my farm-house, in letters of gold, for the pious edification of
my rustic neighbours :
Inveni portum. Spes et fortuna, valete,
Sat me lusistis ; ludite nunc alios,
BOOK THE TENTH.
Cu. I.—Gil Blas sets out for the Asturias; and passes through Valladolid,
where he goes to see his old master, Doctor Sangrado. By accident, he comes
across Signor Manuel Ordonnez, governor of the hospital.
Just as I was arranging matters to take my departure from Madrid, and go
with Scipio to the Asturias, Paul V. gave the Duke of Lerma a cardinal’s hat.
This pope, wishing to establish the inquisition in the kingdom of Naples, in-
vested the minister with the purple, and by that means hoped to bring King
Philip over to so pious and praiseworthy a'design. ‘Those who were best ac-
quainted with this new member of the sacred college, thought much like myself,
that the church was in a fair way for apostolical purity, after so ghostly an
acquisition.
cipio, who would have liked better to see me once more blazing at court, than
either cloistered or rusticated, advised me to shew my face at the cardinal’s audi-
ence. Perhaps, said he, his eminence, finding you at large by the king’s order,
may think it unnecessary to affect any further displeasure against you, and may
even reinstate you in his service. My good friend Scipio, answered I, you seem to
forget that my liberty was granted only on condition of making myself scarce
in the two Castiles. Besides, can you suppose me so soon inclined to become
an absentee from my domain of Lirias? I have told you before, and I tell it
you once again : Though the Duke of Lerma should restore me to his good
graces, though he should even offer me Don Rodrigo de Calderona’s place, I
would refuse it. My resolution is taken: I mean to go and find out my
parents at Oviedo, and carry them with me to Valencia. As for you, my good
fellow, if you repent of having linked your fate with mine, you have only to say
so: I am ready to give you half of my ready money, and you may stay at
Madrid, where fortune puts on her kindest smiles to those who woo her
lustily.
What then! replied my secretary, a little affected by these words, can you
suspect me of any unwillingness to follow you into your retreat ? The very idea
is an injury to my zeal and my attachment., What, Scipio! that faithful ap-.
pendage, who would willingly have passed the remnant of his days with you'
in the tower of Segovia, rather than abandon you to your wretched fate, can he
feel sorrowful at the prospect of an abode, where a thousand rural delights are
waiting to smile on his arrival? No, no, I have not a wish to turn you aside
from your resolution. Nor can I refrain from owning my malicious drift ; when
I advised you to shew your face at the Duke of Lerma’s audience, it was for
the purpose of ascertaining whether any seedlings of ambition were scattered
among the fallows of your philosophy. Since that point is settled, and you are
mortified to all the pomps and vanities of the world; let us make the best of
our way from court, to go and suck in with Zephyrus and Flora the innocent,
delicious pleasures so luxuriant in the nursery of our imaginations.
334 GIL BLAS.
In fact, we soon afterwards took our departure together, in a chaise drawn
by two good mules, driven by a postillion whom I had added to my establish-
ment. We stopped the first day at Alcala de Henarés, and the second at
Segovia, whence, without stopping to see our generous warden, Tordesi
we went forward to Penafiel on the Duero, and the next day to Valladolid.
At sight of this large town, I could not help fetching a deep sigh. My com-
panion, surprised at that conscientious ventilation, inquired the reason of it.
My good fellow, said I, it is because I practised medicine here for a long time.
It gives me the horrors, even now, to think of my unexpiated murders. The
whole list of killed and wounded are mustered in battle-array yonder : the tomb
and the hospital yawn with their disgorged inhabitants, who are rushing on to
tear me piece-meal, and exact the vengeance due to the drenched crew. What
a dreadful fancy! said my secretary. In truth, Signor de Santillane, your
nature is too tender. Why should you be shocked at the common course of
exchange in your branch of trade? Look at all the oldest physicians : their
withers are unwrung. What can exceed the self-complacency with which they
view the exits of patients, and the entrances of diseases ? Natural constitution
bears the brunt of all their failures, and medical infallibility takes the credit of
lucky accidents.
It is very true, replied I, that Doctor Sangrado, on whose practice I formed
myself, was like the rest of the old physicians in point of self-complacency. It
-was to little purpose that twenty people in a day yielded to his prowess ; he was
so persuaded that bleeding in the arm and copious libations of warm water were
specifics for every case, that instead of doubting whether the death of his patients
might not possibly invalidate the efficacy of his prescriptions, he ascri the
result to a vacillating compliance with his system. By all the powers! cried
Scipio with a burst of laughter, you open to mean incomparable character.. If
you have any curiosity to be better acquainted with him, said I, it may be gra-
tified to-morrow, should Sangrado be still living, and resident at Valladolid :
but it is highly improbable ; for he had one foot in the grave when I left him
several years ago.
Our first care, on putting up at the inn, was to inquire after this doctor. We
were told that he was not dead; but being incapacitated by age from paying visits
“Gr any other vigorous exertions, he had been superseded by three or four other
doctors who had risen into repute by a new practice, accomplishing the same
end by different means. We determined on lying by for a day at Valladolid,
as well to rest our mules, as to call on Signor Sangrado. About ten o’clock
next morning we knocked at his door ; and found him sitting in his elbow-chair,
with a book in his hand. He rose on our entrance ; advanced to meet us with
a firm step for a man of seventy, and begged to know our business. My worthy
and approved good master, said I, have you lost all recollection of an old pupil ?
There was formerly one Gil Blas, as you may remember, a boarder in your
house, and for some time your deputy. What! is it you, Santillane? answered
he, with a cordial embrace. I should not have known you again. It, how-
ever, gives me great pleasure to see you once more. What have you been
doing since we parted? Doubtless you have made medicine your profession.
It was very strongly my inclination so to do, replied I ; but imperious circum-
stances made me reluctantly abandon so illustrious a calling.
So much the worse, rejoined Sangrado: with the principles you sucked in
under my tuition, you would have become a physician of the first skill and
eminence, with the guiding influence of heaven to defend you from the dangerous
allurements of chemistry. Ah, my son! pursued he with a mournful air, what
a change in practice within these few years! The whole honour and dignity of
the art is compromised, That mystery, by whose inscrutable decrees the lives
VISIT TO DOCTOR SANGRADO. 335
of men have in all ages been determined, is now laid open to the rude, untutored
gaze of.blockheads, novices, and mountebanks. Facts are stubborn things ;
and ere long the very stones will cry aloud against the rascality of these new
practitioners : /apides clamabunt! Why, sir, there are fellows in this town,
calling themselves physicians, who drag their degraded persons at the currus —
triumphalis antimonit, or as it should properly be translated, the cart’s tail of
antimony. Apostates from the faith of Paracelsus, idolaters of filthy hermes,
healers at hap-hazard, who make all the science of medicine to consist in the
preparation and prescription of drugs. What a change have I to announce to
you! There is not one stone left upon another in the whole structure which our
great predecessors had raised. Bleeding in the feet, for example, so rarely
practised in better times, is now among the fashionable follies of theday. That
gentle, civilized system of evacuation which prevailed under my auspices is
subverted by the reign of anarchy and emetics, of quackery and poison. In
short, chaos is come again! Every one orders what seems good in his own
eyes ; there is no deference to the authority of ancient wisdom ; our masters are
laid upon the shelf, and their axioms not one tittle the more regarded, for being
delivered in languages as defunct as the subjects of their application.
However desirable it might seem to laugh at so whimsical a declamation, I
had the good manners to resist the impulse ; and not only that, but to inveigh
bitterly against Zermes, without knowing whether it was a vegetable or an
animal, and to pour forth a commination of curses against the authors and
inventors of so diabolical an engine. Scipio, observing my by-play in this
scene, had a mind to come in for his share in the banter. Most venerable prop
of the true practice, said he to Sangrado, as I.am descended in the third gener-
ation from a physician of the old school, give me leave to join youin your
philippic against chemical conspiracies. My late illustrious progenitor, heaven
forgive him all his sins! was so warm a partisan of Hippocrates, that he often
came to blows with ignorant pretenders, who vomited forth blasphemies against
that high priest of the faculty. What is bred in the bone will not come out of
the flesh: I could willingly inflict tortures and death with my own hands on
those rash innovators whose daring enormities you have characterized with such
accuracy of discrimination and such force of language. When wretches like
these gain an ascendancy in civilized society, can we wonder at the disjointed
condition of the world ?
The times are even more out of joint than you are aware of, said the doctor.
My book against the vanities and delusions of the new practice might as well
have fallen still-born from the press ; it seems, if anything, to have acted by
contraries, and to have exasperated heresy. The apothecaries, like the Titans
of old, heaping potion upon pill, and invading the Olympus of medicine, think
themselves fully qualified to usurp and maintain the throne, now that it is only
thought necessary to set open the doors, and to drive the enemy out at the portal
or the postern by main force. They go to the length of infusing their deadly
drugs into apozems and cordials, and then set themselves up against the most
eminent of the fraternity. This contagion has spread its influence even among
the cloisters. There are monks in our convents who unite surgery and pharmacy
to the labours of the confessional. Those medical baboons are always dipping
their paws into chemistry, and inventing compositions strong enough to lay
a scene of ecclesiastical mortality in the temperate abodes of peace and religion.
Now there are in Valladolid above sixty religious houses for both sexes ; judge
what ravage must have been made there by unmerciful pumping and the lancet
misapplied. Signor Sangrado, said I, you are perfectly in the right to give
these poisoners no quarter. I utter groan for groan with you, and heave the
philanthropic sigh over the invaded lives of our fellow-creatures, sinking under
336 GIL BLAS.
the fell attack of so heterodox a practice. It fills me with horror to think what
a dead weight chemistry may one day be to medicine, just as adulterated coin
operates on national credit. Far be that evil day from this generation.
Just at this climax of our discourse, in came an old female servant, with a
salver for the doctor, on which was a little light roll and a glass with two
decanters, the one filled with water and the other with wine. After he had
eaten a slice, he washed it down with a diluted beverage, two parts water to
one of wine ; but this temperate use of the good creature did not at all save
him from the acrimony of my ridicule. So so, good master doctor, said I, you
are fairly caught in the fact. You a wine-bibber! you, who have entered the
lists like a knight-errant against that unauthenticated fermentation ? you, who
reached your grand climacteric on the strength of the pure element ? How long
have you been so at odds with yourself? Your time of life can be no excuse for
the alteration ; since, in one passage of your writings, you define old age to be
a natural consumption, which withers and attenuates the system ; and as an
inference from that position, you reprobate the ignorance of those writers who
dignify wine with the appellation of old men’s milk. What can you say, there-
fore, in your own defence ?
You belabour me most unjustly, answered the old physician. If I drank
neat wine, you would have a right to treat me as a deserter from my own stand-
ard ; but your eyes may convince you that my wine is well mixed. Another
heresy, my dear apostle of the wells and fountains! replied I. Recollect how
you rated the canon Sedillo for drinking wine, though plentifully dashed with
the salubrious fluid. Own modestly and candidly that your theory was unfounded
and fanciful, and that wine is not a poisonous liquor, as you have so falsely and
scandalously libelled it in your works, any further than, like any other of
nature’s bounties, it may be abused to excess,
This lecture sat rather uneasily on our doctor’s feelings, as a candidate for
consistency. He could not deny his inveteracy against the use of wine in all his
publications ; but pride and vanity not allowing him to acknowledge the justice
of my attack on his apostasy, he was left without a word to say for himself.
Not wishing to push my sarcasm beyond the bounds of good humour, I changed
the subject ; and after a few minutes’ longer stay, took my leave, gravely
exhorting him to maintain his ground against the new practitioners. Courage,
Signor Sangrado! said I: never be weary of setting your wits against hermes ;
and deafen the health-dispensing tribe with your thunders against the use of
bleeding in the feet. If, spite of all your zeal and affection for medical orthodoxy,
this empiric generation should succeed in supplanting true and legitimate prac-
tice, it will be at least your consolation to have exhausted your best endeavours
in the support of truth and reason.
As my secretary and myself were walking to the inn, making our observations
in high glee on the doctor’s entertaining and original character, a man from fifty-
five to sixty years of age happened to pass near us in the street, walking with
his eyes fixed on the ground, and a large rosary in his hand. I conned over
the distinctive cut of his appearance most cunningly, and was rewarded in the
recognition of Signor Manuel Ordonnez, that faithful trustee for the affairs of
the hospital, of whom so honourable mention is made in the first volume of
these true and instructive memoirs. Accosting him with the most profound and
unquestionable tokens of respect, I paid my compliments in due form and
order to the venerable and trust-worthy Signor Manuel Ordonnez, the man of
all the world in whose hands the interests of the poor and needy are most safely
and beneficially placed. At these words he oh at me steadfastly in the face,
and answered that my features were not altogether strange to him, but that he
could not recollect where he had seen me. I used to go backwards and for-
GIL BLASS ACCOUNT OF FABRICIO. 337
wards to your house, replied I, when one of my friends, by name Fabricio
Nunez, was in your service. Ah! I recollect the circumstance at once, rejoined
the worthy director with a cunning leer, and have good reason to do so ; for
you were a brace of pleasant lads, and were by no means backward in the little
scape-grace tricks of youth and inexperience. Well! and what is become of
poor Fabricio? Whenever he comes across my thoughts, I cannot help feeling
a little uneasy about his temporal and eternal welfare.
It was to relieve your mind upon that subject, said I to Signor Manuel, that
I have taken the liberty of stopping you in the street. Fabricio is settled at
Madrid, where he employs himself in publishing miscellanies and collections.
What do ‘you mean by miscellanies and collections? replied he. I mean,
resumed I, that he writes in verse and prose, from epic poems and the highest
branches of philosophy, down to plays, novels, epigrams, and riddles. In short,
he is a lad of universal genius, and most exemplary benevolence ; sometimes
modestly taking to himself the credit of his own compositions, and sometimes
lending out his talents to the literary ambition of those noblemen who write for
their own amusement, but wish their names to be concealed, except from a
chosen circle. By traffic like this he sits at the very first tables. But how does
he sit at his own? said the director : upon what terms does he live with his
baker? Not quite so confidentially as with people of fashion, answered I ; for
between pesca atl I take him to be quite as much out at elbows as ever Jub
was. More bonds and judgments against him than ever Job had, take my
word for it! replied Ordonnez. Let him lick the spittle of his titled friends and
patrons till his stomach heaves at the nauseating saliva ; his printed dedications
and his oral flattery, in spite of all the cringing and all the toad-eating, which
constitute the stock-in-trade of his profession, with all the profits of his works,
whether by subscription or ordinary publication, will not bring grist enough to
his mill, to keep hunger from the door. Mind if what I say does not turn out to
be true! He will come to the dogs at last.
Nothing more likely! replied I; for he cohabits with the muses already;
and many a plain man has found, to his cost, that there is no keeping company
with the sisters, without being worried by their bullying brethren. My friend
Fabricio would have done much better by remaining quietly with your lord-
ship ; he would now have been lying on a bed of roses, and everything he had
touched would have turned to gold. He would at least have been in a very
snug berth, said Manuel. He was a great favourite of mine; and I meant, by
a regular gradation from subaltern to principal situations, to have established
him in ease and affluence on the basis of public charity; but the foolish fellow
took it into his head to set up fora wit. He wrote a play, and brought it out
at the theatre in this town: the piece went off tolerably well, and nothing
thenceforth would serve his turn but commencing author by profession. Lope
de Vega, in his estimation, was but a type of him: preferring, therefore, the
intoxicating vapour of public applause to the plain roast and boiled of this
substantial ordinary, he came to me for his discharge. It was to no purpose
for me to argue the point, or to prove to him what a silly cur he was, to drop
the bone and run after the shadow: the mad blockhead was so suffocated by
the smother of authorship, that the instinctive dread of fire could not rouse his,
alacrity to escape burning. In short, he was miserably unconscious of his own
interest, as his successor can testify: for he, possessing practical good sense,
though without half Fabricio’s quickness and versatility, makes it his whole
study and delight to go through his business in a workmanlike manner, and to
fall in with all my little ways. In return for such good conduct, I pushed him
forward in a manner corresponding with his deserts; and he unites in his own
person, even at this time of day, two offices in the hospital, the least lucrative
338 GIL BLAS.
of which would be more than sufficient to place any honest man at his ease,
though encumbered with a yearly teeming wife.
Cu. Il.—Gil Blas continues his journey, and arrives in safety at Oviedo,
The condition of his family. His fathers death, and its consequences.
FRoM Valladolid we got to Oviedo in four days, without any untoward accident
on the road, in spite of the proverb, which says, that robbers lay their ears to
the ground, when pilgrims are going with rich offerings, and traders are riding
with fat purses. It would have been a feasible, as well as a tempting specula-
tion. Two tenants of a subterraneous abode might have presented an aspect
to have frightened our doubloons into a surrender; for courage was not one of
the qualities I had imbibed at court; and Bertrand, my mule-driver, seemed
not to be of a temper to get his brains blown out in defending a purse into
which he had no free ingress. Scipio was the only one of the party who was
anything of a bully.
It was night when we came into town. Our lodgings were at an inn near
my uncle, Gil Perez, the canon. I was very desirous of ascertaining the cir-
cumstances of my parents before my first interview with them; and, in order
to gain that information, it was impossible to make my inquiries in a better
channel than through my landlord and landlady, into the lines of whose faces
you could not look without being satisfied that they knew every tittle of their
neighbours’ concerns. As it turned out, the landlord kenned me after a dili-
gent perusal of my features, and cried out: By Saint Antony of Padua! this is
the son of the honest usher, Blas of Santillane. Ay, indeed! said the hostess ;
and so it is: without a single muscle altered! just for all the world that same
little stripling Gil Blas, of whom we used to say that he was as saucy as he was
high. It brings old times to my memory! when he used to come hither with
his bottle under his arm, to fetch wine for his uncle’s supper.
Madam, said 1, you have a most inveterate memory; but for goodness’ sake
change the subject, and tell me the modern news of my family. My father and
mother are doubtless in no very enviable situation. In good truth, you may
say that, answered the landlady: you may rack your brains as long as you like,
but you will never think of anything half so miserable as what they are suffering
at this present moment. Gil Perez, good soul! is defunct all down one side by
a stroke of the palsy, and the other half of him is little better than a corpse;
we cannot expect him to last long: then your father, who went to live with his
reverence a little while ago, is troubled with an inflammation of the lungs, and
is standing, as a body may say, quavery-mavery between life and death ; while
your mother, who is not over and above hale and hearty herself, is obliged to
nurse them both.
On this intelligence, which made -me feel some compunctious yearnings of
nature, I left Bertrand with my stud and baggage at the inn: then, with my
secretary at my heels, who would not desert me in my time of need, I repaired
to my uncle’s house. The moment I came within my mother’s reach, a natural
emotion of maternal instinct unfolded to her who I was, before her eyes could
possibly have run over the traces of my countenance. Son, said she, with a
melancholy expression, after having embraced me, come and be present at
your father’s death; your visit is just in time to take in all the piteous circum-
stances of so deplorable an event. With this heart-rending reception, she led
me by the hand into a chamber where the wretched Blas of Santillane, stretched
on a comfortless bed, in cold and dismal accord with the thinness of his for-
tunes, was just entering on the last great act of human nature. Though sur-
rounded by the shades of death, he was not quite unconscious of what was
GIL BLAS WITNESSES HIS FATHERS DEATH. — 339
passing about him. My dearest friend, said my mother, here is your son Gil
Blas, who entreats your forgiveness for all his undutiful behaviour, and is come
to ask your blessing before you die. At these tidings my father opened his eyes,
which where on the point of closing for ever: he fixed them upon me; and
reading in my countenance, notwithstanding the awful brink on which he
stood, that I was a sincere mourner for his loss, his feelings were recalled to
sympathy by my sorrow. He even made an attempt to speak, but his strength
was too much exhausted. I took one of his hands in mine, and while I bathed
it with my tears, in speechless agony of soul, he breathed his last, as if he had
only waited my arrival to pay the debt of nature, and wing his way to scenes
of untried being.
This event had been too long present to my mother’s mind to overwhelm
her with any unparalleled affliction. Perhaps it sat more heavily on me than
on her, though my father had never in his life given me any reason to feel for
him as a father. But besides that mere filial instinct would have made me
weep over his cold remains, I reproached myself with not having contributed
to the comfort of his latter days; then, when I considered what a hard-hearted
villain I had been, I seemed to myself like a monster of ingratitude, or rather
like an impious parricide. My uncle, whom I afterwards saw lying at his
length on another wretched couch, and in a most lamentable pickle, made me
experience fresh agonies of upbraiding conscience. Unnatural son! said I,
communing with my own uneasy thoughts, behold the chastisement of heaven
upon thy sins, in the disconsolate condition of thy nearest relations. Hadst
thou but thrown to them the superflux of that abundance, in which before thy
imprisonment thou rolledst, thou mightest have procured for them those little
comforts which thy uncle’s ecclesiastical pittance was too scanty to furnish,
and perhaps have lengthened out the term of thy father’s life.
Gil Perez had fallen into a state of second childhood, and was, though
numerically upon the list of the living, in every individual organ a mere corpse.
His memory, nay, his very senses had retired from their allotted stations in his
system. Bootless was it for me to strain him in my pious arms, and lavish
outward tokens of affection on him: they might as well have been wasted on
the desert air. To as little purpose did my mother ring in his unnerved ear,
that I was his nephew Gil Blas; he gazed at me with a vacant, stupid stare,
and gave neither sign nor answer. Had the ties of consanguinity and gratitude
been all too weak, to awaken my tender sympathy for an uncle, to whom I
owed the means of my first launch into the world, the impression of helpless
dotage on my senses must have softened me into something like the counterfeit
of virtuous emotion. ‘
While this scene was passing, Scipio preserved a melancholy silence, sharing
in all my sorrows, and mingling his sighs with mine in the chastised luxury of
friendship. But concluding that my mother, after so long an absence, might
wish to have some such conversation with me, as the presence of a stranger
must rather repress than promote, I drew him aside, saying, Go, my good
fellow, sit down quietly at the inn, and leave me here with my only surviving
parent, who might consider your company as an intrusion, while talking over
family affairs. Scipio withdrew, for fear of being a clog upon our confidence ;
and I sat down with my mother to an interchange of communication, which
lasted all night. We reciprocally gave a faithful account of all that had hap-
pened to each of us, since my first sally from Oviedo. She related, in full
measure and running over, all the petty insults, disappointments, and mortifi-
cations, which she had undergone in her pilgrimage from house to house
asaduenna. A great number of these little anecdotes it would have hurt my
pride that my secretary should have noted down in his biographical budget,
340 GIL BLAS.
though I had never concealed from him the ups and downs in the lottery of my
own life. With all the respect I owe to my mother’s sainted memory, the
good lady had not the knack of going the shortest road to the end of a story;
had she but pruned her own memoirs of all luxuriant circumstances, there
would not have been materials for more than a tithe of her narrative.
At length she got to the end of her tether, and I beganmy career. With re-
spect to my general adventures, I passed them over lightly ; but when I came
to speak of the visit which the son of Bertrand Muscada, the grocer of Oviedo,
had paid me at Madrid, I enlarged with decent compunction on that dark article
in the history of my life. I must frankly own, said I tomy mother, that I gave
that young fellow a very bad reception ; and he, doubtless, in revenge, must
have drawn a hideous outline of my moral features. He did you more than
justice, I trust, answered she; for he told us that he found you so puffed and
swollen with the good fortune thrust upon you by the prime minister, as scarce-
ly to acknowledge him among your former acquaintance ; and when he gave
you a moving description of our miseries, you listened as if you had no interest
in the tale, or knowledge of the parties. But as fathers and mothers can always
find some clue for palliation in the conduct of their graceless children, we were
loth to believe that you had so bad a heart. Your arrival at Oviedo justifies
our favourable interpretation, and those tears which are now flowing down your
cheeks, are so many pledges either of your innocence or your reformation.
Your constructions were too partial, replied I; there was a great deal of
truth in young Muscada’s report. When he came to see me all my faculties
were engrossed by vanity and mammon ; ambition, the prevailing devil which
possessed me, left not a thought to throw away on the desolate condition of m
parents. It therefore could be no wonder, if in such a disposition of mind
gave rather a freezing reception to a man who, accosting me in a peremptory
style, took upon him to say, without mincing the matter, that it was well known
I was as rich as a Jew, and therefore he advised me to send you a good round
sum, seeing that you were very much put to your shifts : nay, he went so far as
to reproach me, in phrase of more sincerity than good manners, with my unfeel-
ing negligence of my family. His confounded personality stuck in my throat ; so
that losing my little stock of patience, I shoved him fairly by the shoulders out
of my closet. It must be confessed that I took the administration of justice a
little too much into my own hands, being judge and party in the same cause ;
neither was it proper that you should bear the brunt, because the grocer was a
little anti-saccharine in his phraseology ; nor was his advice the less pertinent
or just, though couched in homely terms, or urged with plodding vulgarity.
All this came plump in the teeth of my conscience, the moment I had turned
Muscada out of hocele The voice of natural instinct contrived to make its way ;
my duty to my parents brought the blood into my face ; but it was the blush of
shame for its neglect, and not the glow of triumph at its performance. Yet
even my remorse can give me little credit.in your eyes, since it was soon stifled
in the fumes of avarice and ambition. But some time afterwards, having been
safely lodged in the tower of Segovia by royal mandate, I fell dangerously ill
there ; and that timely remembrancer was the cause of bringing back your son
to you. So true is it, that sickness and imprisonment were my best moral tu-
tors ; for they enabled nature to resume her rights, and weaned me effectually
from the court. Henceforth all my dear delight is in solitude ; and my only
business in the Asturias is to entreat that you would share with me in the mild
pleasures of a retired life. If you reject not my earnest petition, I will attend
you to an estate of mine in the kingdom of Valencia, and we will live there to-
gether very comfortably. You are of course aware that I intended to take my
father thither also ; but since heaven has ordained it otherwise, let me at least
FUNERAL OF GIL BLASS FATHER. 341
have the satisfaction of affording an asylum tomy mother, and making amends
by all the attentions in my power for the fallow seasons in the former harvest
of my filial duty.
I accept your kind intentions in very good part, said my mother ; and would
take the journey without hesitation, if I saw no obstacles in the way. But to.
desert your uncle in his present condition would be unpardonable ; and I am
too much accustomed to this part of the country, to like living elsewhere :
nevertheless, as the proposal deserves to be maturely weighed, I will consider
further of it at my leisure. At present, your father’s funeral requires to be
ordered and arranged. As for that, said I, we will leave it to the care of the
young man whom you saw with me ; he is my secretary, with as clever a head
and as good a heart as you have often been acquainted with ; let the business
rest with him ; it cannot be in better hands.
Hardly had I pronounced these words, when Scipio came back ; for it was
already broad day. He inquired whether he could be of any service in our
present distresses. I answered that he was come just in time to receive some
very important directions, As soon as he was made acquainted with the busi-
ness in hand: A word to the wise! said he: the whole procession with its ap-
propriate heraldry is already marshalled in this head of mine ; you may trust
me for a very pretty funeral. Have a care, said my mother, to make it plain
and decent without anything like pomp or parade. It can scarcely be too
humble for my husband, whom all the town knows to have been low in rank,
and indigent in circumstances, Madam, replied Scipio, though he had been
the meanest and most destitute of the human race, I would not bate one button
in the array of his posthumous honours. My master’s credit is at stake in the
proper conduct of the ceremony ; he has been in an ostensible situation under
the Duke of Lerma, and his father ought to be buried with all the forms of state
and nobility.
I thought exactly as my secretary did upon the subject ; and even went so far
as to bid him spare no expense on the occasion. A little leaven of vanity still
fermented in the mass of.my philosophy, and rose in my bosom with all the
effervescence of its original lightness. I flattered myself that by lavishing
posers honours on a father who had blessed the day of his decease by no
ucrative bequest, I should instil into the conceptions of the bystanders a high
sense of my generous nature. My mother, on her part, whatever airs of humi-
lity she might put on, had no dislike to seeing her husband carried out with due
observance of funeral pomp and ceremony. We therefore left Scipio to do just
as he pleased ; and he, without a moment’s delay, adopted all the necessary
measures for the display of the undertaker’s liveliest fancy.
The genius of that artist was called forth but too successfully. His emblems,
devices, and draperies, were so ostentatious, as to disgust instead of cajoling
the natives : every individual, whether of the town or the suburbs, whether high
or low, rich or poor, felt shocked and insulted by this after-thought parade.
This ministerial beggar on horseback, said one, can put his hand into his pocket
for his father’s funeral baked meats, but never found in his heart wherewithal
to furnish his living table with common necessaries. It would have been much
more to the purpose, said another, to have made the old gentleman’s latter
days comfortable, than to have wasted such thriftless sums on a post obit
act of filial munificence. In short, quips of the brain and peltings of the tongue
pattered round our execrated heads. It would have been well had the storm
been only a whirlwind of passion, or hurricane of words ; but we were all,
Scipio, Bertrand, and myself, corporally admonished of our misdeeds, on our
coming out of church ; they abused us like pickpockets, made mouths and
odious noises as we passed, and followed Bertrand at his heels to the inn witha
342 GIL BLAS.
copious volley of stones and mud, To disperse the mob which had collected
before my uncle’s house, my mother was obliged to shew herself at the window,
and to declare publicly, that she was aioe. satisfied with my proceedings.
Another detachment had filed off to the stable-yard where my carriage stood,
in the full determination of breaking it to pieces ; and this they would inevit-
ably have done, if the landlord and lady had not found some means of quieting
their perturbed spirits, and turning them aside from their outrageous purpose.
All these affronts, so revolting to my dignity, the effect of the tales which the
young grocer had been spreading about town, inspired me with such a thorough
hatred for my native place, that I determined on quitting Oviedo almost im-
mediately, though but for this bustle I might have made it my residence for
some time. I announced my intention, with the reasons of it, to my mother,
who, considering my uncouth reception as no very flattering compliment to
herself, did not urge my longer stay among people so little inclined to treat me
civilly. The only point remaining now to be discussed was her future destiny
and provision. My dear mother, said I, since my uncle stands so much in need
of your attendance, I will no longer urge you to go along with me ; but, as his
days seem likely to be very few on earth, you must promise to come and take
up your abode with me at my farm, as soon as the last duties are performed to
his honoured remains,
I shall make no such promise, answered my mother, for I mean to pass the
remnant of my days in the Asturias, and in a state of perfect independence.
Will you not on all occasions, replied I, be absolute mistress in my household ?
May be so, and may be not! rejoined she: you have only to fall in love with
some flirt of a girl, and then you will marry: then she will be my daughter-in-
law, and I shall be her stepmother ; and then we shall live together as step-
mothers and daughters-in-law usually do. Your prognostics, said I, are fetched
from a great distance. I have not at present the most remote intention of enter-
ing into the happy state: but even though such a whim should take possession
of my brain, I will pledge myself for instructing my wife betimes in an implicit
submission to your will and pleasure. That is giving security, without the
means of making good your contract, replied: my mother: you would scarcely
be able to justify bail. I would not even swear that in our sparring-matches,
you might not take your wife’s part in preference to mine, however ill she
might behave, or however unreasonably she might argue.
You talk very excellent sense, madam, cried my secretary, coming in for his
share of the conversation: I think just as you do, that docility is about as much
the virtue of a donkey as of a daughter-in-law. As the matter stands, that
that there may be no difference of opinion between my master and you, since
you are absolutely determined to live asunder, you in the Asturias, and he in
the kingdom of Valencia, he must allow you an annuity of a hundred pistoles,
and send me hither every year for the payment. By thus arranging matters,
mother and son will be very good friends, with an interval of two hundred
leagues between them. The parties concerned fell in at once with the proposal :
I paid the first year in advance, and stole out of Oviedo the next morning before
dawn, for fear of vying with Saint Stephen in popular favour. Such were the
charms of my return to my native place. An admirable lesson this for those
successful upstarts, who having gone abroad to make their fortunes, come home
to be the purse-proud tyrants of their birth-place. j
GIL BLAS ARRIVES AT HIS SEAT. 343
Cu. YI.—Gil Blas sets out for Valencia, ard arrives at Lirias; description of
_ his seat; the particulars of his reception, and the characters of the inhabitants
he found there.
WE took the road for Leon, afterwards that of Palencia; and, continuing our
journey by short stages, arrived on the evening of the tenth day at the town of
Segorba, whence early on the morrow we repaired to my seat, at the distance
of very little more than three leagues. In proportion as we approached nearer,
it was amusing to see with what a longing eye my secretary looked at all the
estates which lay in our way, tothe right and left of the road. Whenever he
caught a glimpse-of any which bespoke the rank and opulence of its owner,
he never missed pointing at it with his finger, and wishing that were the place
of our retreat.
I know not, my good friend, said I, what idea you have formed of our habit-
ation; but if you have taken it into your head that ours is a magnificent house,
with the domain of a great landed proprietor, I warn you in time that you are
laying much too flattering an unction to your vanity.
If you have no mind to be the dupe of a warm imagination, figure to your-
self the little ornamented cottage which Horace fitted up near Tibur in the
country of the Sabines, on a small farm, the fee-simple of which was given him
by Mzecenas. Don Alphonso has made me just such another present, more as
a token of affection than for the value of the thing. Then I must expect to see
nothing but a dirty hovel! exclaimed Scipio. Bear in mind, replied I, that I
have always given you quite an unvarnished description of my place; and now,
even at this moment, you may judge for yourself whether I have not stuck to
truth and nature in my representations.. Just carry your eye along the course
of the Guadalaviar, and observe at a little distance from the further bank, near
that hamlet, consisting of nine or ten tenements, a house with four small turrets;
that is my mansion.
The deuce and all! stammered out my secretary, short-breathed with sud-
den admiration: why, that house is one of the prettiest things in nature. Be-
sides the castellated air which those turrets give it, all the beauties of situation
and architecture, fertility of soil, and perfection of landscape, combine to rival
or excel the immediate neighbourhood of Seville, complimented as it is for its
picturesque attractions by the appellation of an earthly paradise. Had we
chosen the place of our settlement for ourselves, it could not have been more
to my taste: a river meanders through the grounds, distilling plenty and ver-
dure from its fertilizing bosom; the leafy honours of an umbrageous wood
invite the mid-day walk, and qualify the temperature of the seasons. What a
heavenly abode of solitude and contemplation! Ah! my dear master, we shall
act very foolishly if we are in a hurry to run away from our happiness. I am
delighted, answered I, that you are so well satisfied with the retreat provided
for us, though yet acquainted with only a small part of its attractions.
As we were chatting in this strain, we got nearer and nearer to the house,
where the door opened, as by magic, the moment Scipio announced Signor Gil
Blas de Santillane, who was coming to take possession of his estate. At the
mention of this name, received with reverential homage by the people who had
been instructed in the transfer of their obedience, my carriage was admitted
into a large court, where I alighted; then leaning with all my weight upon
Scipio, as if walking was a derogation from my dignity, and putting on the
great man after the most consequential models, I reached the hall, where, on
my entrance, seven or eight servants made their obeisances. They told me
they were come to welcome their new master with their best loves and duties ;
344 GIL BLAS.
that Don Cesar and Don Alphonso de Leyva had chosen them to form my
establishment, one in quality of cook, another as under-cook, a third as scullion,
a fourth as porter, and the rest as footmen; with an express injunction to
receive no wages or perquisites, as those two noblemen meant to defray all the
expenses of my household. The cook, Master Joachim by name, was com-
mander-in-chief of this battalion, and announced to me the whole array of the
campaign ; he declared that he had laid in a large stock of the choicest wines
in Spain, and insinuated that for the solid supply of the table, he flattered him-
self a person of his education and experience, who had been six years at the
head of my Lord Archbishop of Valencia’s kitchen, must know how to dish up
a dinner so as to meet the ideas of the most fastidious layman in Christendom.
But the proof of the pudding is in the eating, added he; so I will eis go and
give you a specimen of my talent. You had better take a walk, my lord, while
dinner is getting ready: look about the premises; and see whether you find
them in tenantable condition for a person of your lordship’s dignity.
The reader may guess whether t aia not stir my stumps; and Scipio, still
more eager than myself to take a bird’s eye inventory of our goods and chattels,
dragged me back and fore from room to room. There was not a corner of the
house that we did not peep into, from the garret to the cellar: not a closet or a
cranny, at least as we supposed, could escape our prying curiosity; and in
every fresh room we went into, I had occasion to admire the kindness of Don
Cesar and his son towards me. I was struck, among other things, with two
apartments, which were as elegantly furnished as they could be, without mis-
placed magnificence. One of them was hung with tapestry, the celebrated
manufacture of the Low Countries; the velvet bed and chairs were still very
handsome, though in the fashion of the time when the Moors possessed the
kingdom of Valencia. The furniture of the other room was in the’same taste ;
to wit, an old suit of hangings, made of yellow Genoa damask, with a bed and
arm-chairs to match, fringed with blue silk. All these effects, which would
have furnished but a sorry display in an upholsterer’s shop, made no contempti-
ble appearance in their present situation.
After having rummaged over every article of the paraphernalia, my secretary
and myself returned to the dining-room, where the cloth was laid for two ; we
sat down ; and in an instant they served up so delicious an olla podrida, that
we could not help revolving on the various turns of the fate below which had
parted the good Archbishop of Valencia from his cook. We had in truth a
most catholic and ravenous appetite ; a circumstance which added new zest to
our praises and enjoyments. Between every succeeding help my servants,
with all the alacrity of fresh and holiday service, filled our large glasses to the
brim with wine, the choicest vintage of La Mancha. Scipio, not thinking it
genteel to express aloud the inward chucklings of his heart at our dainty fare,
winked and nodded his delight, and spoke by signs, which I returned with the
like dumb eloquence of overflowing satisfaction. The remove was a dish of
roast quails, flanking a little leveret in high order, just kept long enough ; for
this we left our hash, good as it was, and gorged ourselves to a surfeit on the
game. When we had eaten as if we had never eaten before, and pledged one
another in due proportion, we rose from table and went into the garden to look
out for some cool, pleasant spot, and take our afternoon’s nap voluptuously.
If hitherto my secretary had goggled satisfaction at what he had seen, he
stared wider and grinned broader at this vista vision of the garden. Hescarcely
allowed the comparison to be in favour of the Escurial. The reason of its ex-
treme niceness was that Don Czsar, who came backwards and forwards to
Lirias, took pleasure in improving and ornamenting it. All the walks well
gravelled and lined with orange trees, a large reservoir of white marble, with a
GIL BLASS RECEPTION AT LIRIAS. 345
lion in bronze spouting water like a dolphin’s deputy in the middle, the beauty
of the flower borders, the profusion and variety of the fruit trees ; such pretty
particulars as these made Scipio smack his lips and snuff the air ; but his rap-
tures reached their summit at the gradual descent of a long walk, leading to
the bailiffs cottage, and over-arched by the interwoven boughs of the trees
planted on each side. While eulogizing a place so well adapted fora refuge
from the intenseness of the heat, we made a halt, and sat down at the foot of
an elm, where sleep required very little cunning to entangle two high-fed, half-
tipsy blades, just risen from so voluptuous and voracious a repast.
In about two hours we were startled out of our sleep by the report of mus-
ketry, popping so near the head-quarters of our repose that we apprehended
the camp to be attacked. On the alert! was the first idea that invaded our
dozing minds, That we might procure the most authentic intelligence, in what
direction the enemy was approaching, we directed our march towards the bai-
liff's tenement. There were collected eight or ten clodhoppers, all friends and
neighbours, assembled on the green for the purpose of honouring my arrival,
just communicated to the vacant senses of the said clodhoppers, by a discharge
of fire-arms, whose barrels and furniture might thank me for the unusual favour
of a thorough cleaning. The greater part of them weré acquainted with my per-
son, having seen me more than once at the castle, while engaged in the business
of my stewardship. No sooner did they set eyes on me, than they all shouted
in unison: Long life to our new lord and master! welcome to Lirias! Then
they loaded once again, and fired another volley in honour of the occasion.
My habits and manners were softened down to the most condescending urbanity,
though with a decorous infusion of distance, lest any degrading constructions
might be put upon too unlimited a freedom of address. With respect to my
protection, I promised it according to the customary charter of newly-installed
possessors ; and went so far as to throw them a purse of twenty pistoles: and
this, in my opinion, was the point of all others in my conduct which touched
their hearts most nearly. After this benefaction, I left them at liberty to waste
as much powder as they pleased, and withdrew with my secretary into the
wood, where we walked to and fro till night-fall, without being at all tired of
our rural prospect : so many charms had the view of a landscape, heightened
by the substantial beauties of ownership in fee-simple, to our elevated and de-
lighted imaginations,
The cook, the under-cook, and the scullion were not resting’ upon their oars
all this time : they were working hard to fit up for us an artifice of belly timber
more magnificent that what we had already demolished ; so that we were over
head and ears inamazement, when on our return to the room where we had dined,
we saw on the table a dish of four roast partridges, with a smothered rabbit on
one side, and a fricasseed capon on the other. The second course consisted of
pigs’ ears, jugged game, and chocolate cream. We drank deeply of the most
delicious wines, and began to think of going to bed, when it became a matter of
doubt whether we could sit up any longer. Then my people, with lighted can-
dles before me, led the way to the best bed-room, where they were all most
officious in assisting to undress me: but when they had tendered me my
gown and nightcap, I dismissed them with an authoritative undulation of my
hand, signifying that their services were dispensed with for the remainder of
that night.
Thus I sent them all about their business, keeping Scipio for a little private
conference between ourselves ; and I led to it by asking him what he thought
of my reception, as arranged by order of my noble patrons. Indeed and in-
deed, answered he, the human heart could not devise anything more delicious ;
I only wish we may go on as we have begun. I have no wish of the kind, re-
346 GIL BLAS.
plied I: it is contrary to my principles to allow that my benefactors should put
themselves to so much expense on my account ; it would be a downright fraud
upon their benevolence. Besides, I could never feel myself at home with sery-
ants in the pay of other people ; it is just like living in a lodging or an inn,
Then it is to be remembered, that I did not come hither to live upon so ex-
pensive a scale. What occasion have we for so large an establishment of serv-
ants? Our utmost want, with Bertrand, is a cook, a scullion, and a footman.
Though my secretary would not have been at all sorry to table for a continu-
ance at the governor of Valencia’s expense, he did not oppose his own luxurious
taste to my moral delicacy, but conformed at once to my sentiments, and ap-
proved the reduction I was meditating tointroduce. That point being decided,
he left my chamber, and betook himself to his pillow in his own,
Cu. IV.—A journey to Valencia, and a visit to the lords of Leyva. The convers-
ation of the gentlemen, and Seraphina’s demeanour.
I cor my clothes off as soon as possible, and went to bed, where, finding no
great inclination to sleep, I communed with my own thoughts. The mutual
attachment between the lords of Leyva and myself was uppermost in the various
topics of mycontemplation. Withmy heart full of their late kindness, I determin-
ed on setting out for their residence the next day, and quenching my impatience
to thank them for their favours. Neither was it a slender gratification to anti-
cipate another interview with Seraphina ; though there was somewhat of alloy
in that pleasure : it was impossible to reflect without shuddering, that I should
at the same time have to encounter the glances of Dame Lorenza Sephora, who
might not be greatly delighted at the renewal of our acquaintance, should her
memory happen to stumble upon the circumstances connected with a certain
box on the ear. With my mind exhausted by all these different suggestions,
my eyelids at length closed, and the sun had peeped in at my window long
before they turned upon their hinges.
I was soon out of bed ; and dressed myself with all possible expedition, in
the earnest desire of prosecuting my intended journey. Just as I had finished
my hasty operations, my secretary came into the room. Scipio, said I, you
behold a.man on the point of setting out for Valencia. I ought to lose no time
in paying my respects to those noblemen to whom I am indebted for my little
independence. Every moment of delay in the performance of this duty throws
a new weight of ingratitude on my conscience. As for you, my friend, there
is no necessity for your attendance ; stay here during my absence ; I shall come
back to you within the space of a week. Heaven speed you, sir! answered he
—be sure you do not slight Don Alphonso and his father—they seem to me to
thrill with the kindly vibrations of friendship, and to be unbounded in their
acknowledgment of obligation : gratitude and benevolence are so uncommon in
people of rank, that they deserve to be made the most of where found. I sent
a message to Bertrand, to hold himself in readiness for setting out, and took my
chocolate while he was harnessing the mules. When all was prepared, I got
into my carriage, after having directed my people to consider my secretary as
master of the house in my absence, and to obey his orders as if they were my
own.
I got to Valencia in less than four hours, and drove at once to the governor’s
stables, where I alighted and left my equipage. On going to the house, I was
informed that Don Cesar and his son were together. I did not wait for an in-
troduction, but went in without ceremony ; and addressing myself to both of
them, Servants, said I, never send in their names to their masters ; here is an
old piece of family furniture, not ornamental indeed, but of a fashion when
_ A VISIT TO THE LORDS OF LEYVA. 347
gratitude was neither out of date nor out of countenance. These words were
accompanied with an effort to throw myself on my knees ; but they anticipated
my purpose, and embraced me one after the other with all possible evidence of
sincere affection. Well, then, my dear Santillane, said Don Alphonso, you
have been at Lirias to take possession of your little property. Yes, my lord,
answered I ; and my next request is, that you would be pleased to take it back
again. What is your reason for that? replied he. Is there anything about it
at all offensive to your taste? Not in the place itself, rejoined I: on the con-
trary, that is everything that my heart can wish ; the only fault I have to find
with it is, that the kitchen smells too strongly of the hierarchy ; a lay Christian
should not live like an archbishop ; besides that, there are three times as many
servants as are necessary, and consequently you are put to an expense at once
enormous and useless.
Had you accepted the annuity of two thousand ducats which we offered you
at Madrid, said Don Czesar, we should have thought it enough to give you the
mansion furnished as it is: but you know, you refused it ; and we felt it but
right to do what we have done as an equivalent. Your bounty has been too
lavish, answered I: the gift of the estate was the utmost limit to which it should
have been extended, and that was more than sufficient to crown my largest
wishes. But to say nothing about what it has cost you to keep up so great and
expensive an establishment, I declare to you most solemnly that these people
stand in my way, and are a great annoyance. In one word, gentlemen, either
take back your boon, or give me leave to enjoy it in my own way. I pronounced
these last words so much as if I was in earnest, that the father and son, not
meaning to lay me under any unpleasant restraint, at length gave me their per-
mission to manage my household as it should seem expedient to my better
judgment.
I was thanking them very kindly for having granted me that privilege, with-
out which a dukedom would have been but splendid slavery, when Don A\l-
phonso interrupted me by saying: My dear Gil Blas, I will introduce you to a
lady who will be extremely happy to see you. ‘Thus preparing me for the in-
terview, he took me by the hand and led the way to Seraphina’s apartment, who
set up a scream of joy on recognizing me. Madam, said the governor, I flatter
myself that the visit of our friend Santillane at Valencia is not less acceptable
to you than myself. On that head, answered she, he may rest confidently as-
sured ; time has not obliterated the remembrance of the service which he once
rendered me, and to that must be added a new debt of gratitude incurred on
the score of your obligations. I told the governor’s lady that I was already
too well requited for the danger which I had shared in common with her de-
liverers, in exposing my life for her sake : compliments to the like effect were
bandied about for some time on both sides, when Don Alphonso motioned to
quit Seraphina’s room. We then went back to Don Cesar, whom we found
in the saloon with a fashionable party, who were come to dinner.
All these gentleman were introduced, and paid their compliments to me in
the politest manner; nor did their attentions relax in assiduity, when Don
Czesar told them that I had been one of the Duke of Lerma’s principal secre-
taries. In all likelihood several of them might not be unacquainted that Don
Alphonso had been promoted to the government of Valencia by my interest,
for political secrets are seldom kept. However that might be, while we were
at table, the conversation principally turned on the new cardinal. Some of the
company either were, or affected to be, his unqualified admirers, while others
allowed his merit upon the whole, but thought it had been rather overrated. I
plainly saw through their design of drawing me on to enlarge on the subject of
his eminence, and to gratify their taste for scandal with court anecdotes at his
348 GIL BLAS.
expense. I could have been well enough pleased to have delivered my real .
sentiments on his character, but I kept my tongue within my teeth, and thereby
passed in the estimation of the guests for a close, confidential, politic, trust-
worthy young statesman.
The party respectively retired home after dinner to take their usual nap, when
Ton Ceesar and his son, yielding to a similar inclination, shut themselves up in
their apartments.
For my own part, full of impatience to see a town which I had so often heard
extolled for its beauty, I went out of the governor’s palace with the intention of
walking through the streets. At the gate a man accosted me with the following
address: Will Signor de Santillane allow me to take the liberty of paying my
respects to him? I asked him who and what he was. Iam Don Cesar’s valet-
de-chambre, answered he, but was one of his ordinary footmen during your
stewardship ; I used to make my court to you every morning, and you used to
take a great deal of notice of me. I regularly gave you intelligence of what
was passing in the house. Do you recollect my apprising you one day that the
village surgeon of Leyva was privately admitted into Dame Lorenza Sephora’s
bedchamber? It is a circumstance which I have by no means forgotten, replied
I. But now that we are talking of that formidable duenna, what is become of
her? Alas! resumed he, the poor creature moped and dwindled after your
departure, and at length gave up the ghost, more to the grief of Seraphina than
of Don Alphonso, who seemed to consider her death as no great evil.
Don Cesar’s valet-de-chambre, having thus acquainted me with Sephora’s
melancholy end, made an humble apology for having presumed to stop my walk,
and then left me to continue my progress. I could not help paying the tribute
of a sigh to the memory of that ill-fated duenna ; and her decease affected me
the more, because I taxed myself with that melancholy catastrophe, though a
moment’s reflection would have convinced me, that the pe owed its precious
prey to the inroads of her cancer rather than to the cruel charms of my person.
I lookéd with an eye of pleasure upon everything worth notice in the town.
The archbishop’s marble palace feasted my eyes with all the magnificence of
architecture ; nor were the piazzas which surrounded the exchange much in-
ferior in commercial grandeur ; but a large building at a distance, with a great
crowd standing before the doors, attracted all my attention. I went nearer, to
ascertain the reason why so great a concourse of both sexes was collected, and
was soon let into the secret by reading the following inscription in letters of gold
on a tablet of black marble over the door: Za Posada de los Representantes.*
The play-bills announced for that day a new tragedy, never performed, and gave
the name of Don Gabriel Triaquero as the author.
Cu. V.—Gil Blas goes to the play, and sees a new tragedy. The success of the
piece. The public taste at Valencia.
I sTOPPED for some minutes before the door, to make my remarks on the peo-
le who were going in. There were some of all sorts and sizes.. Here was a
not of genteel-looking fellows, whose tailors at least had done justice to their
fashionable pretensions ; there a mob of ill-favoured and ill-mannered mor-
tals, in a garb to identify vulgarity. To the right was a bevy of noble ladies, _
alighting from their carriages to take possession of their private boxes ; to the
left a tribe of female traders in lubricity, who came to sell their wares in the
lobby. This mixed concourse of spectators, as various in their minds as in
their faces, gave me an itching inclination to increase their number. Just as I
* The theatre.
THE THEATRE AT VALENCIA. 349
was taking my check, the governor and his lady drove up. They spied me out
in the crowd, and having sent for me, took me with them to their box, where I
placed myself behind them, in such a position as, to converse at my ease with
either.
The theatre was filled with spectators from the ceiling downwards, the pit
thronged almost to suffocation, and the stage crowded with knights of the three
military orders. Here is a full house! said I to Don Alphonso. You are not
to consider that as anything extraordinary, answered he ; the tragedy now about
to be produced is from the pen of Don Gabriel Triaquero, the most fashionable
dramatic writer of hisday. Whenever the play-bill announces any novelty from
this favourite author, the whole town of Valencia is ina bustle. The men as
well as the women talk incessantly on the subject of the piece: all the boxes
are taken ; and, on the first night of performance, there is a risk of broken
limbs in getting in, though the price of admission is doubled, with the exception
of the pit, which is too authoritative a part of the house for the proprietors to
tamper with its patience. What a paroxysm of partiality ! said I to the governor.
This eager curiosity of the public, this hot-headed impatience to be present at
the first representation of Don Gabriel’s pieces, gives me a magnificent idea of
that poet’s genius.
At this period of our conversation the curtain rose. We immediately left off
talking, to fix our whole attention on the stage. The applauses were rapturous
even at the prologue: as the performance advanced, every sentiment and
situation, nay, almost every line of the piece called forth a burst of acclamation ;
and at the end of each act the clapping of hands was so loud and incessant, as
almost to bring the building about our ears. After the dropping of the curtain,
the author was pointed out to me, going about from box to box, and with all
the modesty of a successful poet, submitting his head to the imposition of those
laurels, which the genteeler, and especially the fairer part of the audience had
prepared for his coronation,
We returned to the governor’s palace, where we were met by a party of three
or four gentlemen. Besides these mere amateurs, there were two veteran
authors of considerable eminence in their line, and a gentleman of Madrid with
tolerably fair claims to critical authority and judgment. They had all been at
the play. The new piece was the only topic of conversation during supper-time.
Gentlemen, said a knight of St James, what do you think of this tragedy ? Has
it not every claim to the character of a finished work? Thoughts that breathe,
and words that burn, a hand to touch the true chords of pity, and sweep the
lyre of poetry ; requisites how rarely, and yet how admirably united! In a
word, it is the performance of a person mixing in the higher circles of society.
There can be no possible difference of opinion on that subject, said a knight of
Alcantara. The piece is full of strokes which Apollo himself might have aimed,
and of perplexities contrived so that none but the author himself could have
unravelled them. I appeal to that acute and ingenious stranger, added he,
addressing his discourse to the Castilian gentleman ; he looks to me like a good
judge, and I will lay a wager that he is on my side of the question. Take care
how you stake on an uncertainty, my worthy knight, answered the gentleman
with a sarcastic smile. Iam not of your provincial school ; we do not pass our
judgment so hastily at Madrid. Far from sentencing a piece on its first repre-
sentation, we are jealous of its apparent merit while aided by scenic deception ;
our fancies and our feelings may be carried away for the moment, but our
serious decision is suspended till we have read the work ; and the most common
result of its appeal to\the press is a defalcation from its powers of pleasing on
the stage.
Thus you perceive, pursued he, that it is our practice to examine a work of
350 GIL BLAS.
enius closely before we stamp on it the mark of a stock piece: its author’s
Fame, let it ring as loudly as it may, can never confound our exactness of dis-
crimination. When Lope de V himself or Calderona ventured on the
boards, they encountered rigid critics, though in an audience which doted on
them : critics who would not sign their passport to the regions of immortality
till they had sifted their claims to be admitted there,
That is a little too much, interrupted the knight of St James. We are not
quite so cautious as you. It is not our custom to wait for the printing of a piece in
order to decide onits reputation. By the very first performance it sinks or swims.
It does not even seem necessary to be inconveniently attentive to the business
of the stage. It is sufficient that we know it for a production of Don Gabriel,
to be persuaded that it combines every excellence. The works of that poet
may justly be considered as commencing a new era, and fixing the criterion of
good taste. The school of Lope and Calderona was the mere cart of Thespis,
compared with the polished scenes of this great dramatic master. The gentle-
man, who looked up to Lope and Calderona as the Sophocles and Euripides of
the Spaniards, could not easily be brought to acknowledge such wild canons of
criticism. This is dramatic heresy with a vengeance! exclaimed he. Since
you compel me, gentlemen, to decide like you on the fallacious evidence of a
first night, I must tell you that I am not at all satisfied with this new tragedy of
your Don Gabriel. Asa poem it apounas more with glittering conceits than
with passages of pathos or delineations of nature. The verses, three out of
four, are defective either in measure or rhyme ; the characters, clumsily imagined
or incongruously supported ; and the thoughts have often the obscurity of a riddle
without its ingenuity.
The two authors at table, who, with a prudence equally commendable and
unusual, had said nothing for fear of lying under the imputation of jealousy,
could not help assenting to the last speaker’s opinions by their looks ; which
warranted me in concluding that their silence was less owing to the perfection
of the work than to the dictates of personal policy. As for the military critics,
they got to their old topic of ringing the changes on Don Gabriel, and exalted
him to a level with the under-tenants of Olympus. This extravagant association
with the demi-gods, this blind and stiff-necked idolatry, divorced the Castilian
from his little stock of patience, so that, raising his hands to heaven, he broke
out abruptly into a volley of enthusiasm : O divine Lope de Vega, sublime and
unrivalled genius, who has left an immeasurable space between thee and all the
Gabriels who would light their tapers from thy bright effulgence! and thou,
mellow, soft-voiced Calderona, whose el ce and sweetness, rejecting bus-
kined rant and tragic swell, reign with undisputed sway over the affections, fear
not, either of you, lest your altars should be overturned by this tongue-tied
nursling of the muses! It will be the utmost of his renown, if posterity, before
whose eyes your works shall live in daily view, and form their dear delight,
shall enrol his name, as matter of history and curious record, on the list of
obsolete authors.
This animated apostrophe, for which the company was not at all prepared,
raised a hearty laugh, after which we all rose from table and withdrew. An
apartment had been got ready for me by Don Alphonso’s order, where I found
a good bed ; and my lordship, lying down in luxurious weariness, went to sleep
upon the tag of the Castilian gentleman’s impassioned vindication, and dreamed
cep crustily of the injustice done to Lope and Calderona by ignorant pre-
enders.
GIL BLAS MEETS WITH RAPHAEL AND LAMELA. 351
Cu. VI.—Gil Blas, walking about the streets of Valencia, meets with a man of
sanctity, whose pious face he has seen somewhere else. What sort of man this
man of sanctity turns out to be.
As I had not been able to complete my view of the city on the preceding day,
I got up betimes in the morning with the intention of taking another walk. In
the street I remarked a Carthusian friar, who doubtless was thus early in motion
to promote the interests of his order. He walked with his eyes fixed on the
ground, and a gait so holy and contemplative, as to inspire every passenger
with religious awe. His path was in the same direction as mine. I looked at
him with more than ordinary curiosity, and could not help fancying it was Don
Raphael, that man of shifts and expedients, who has already secured so hon-
ourable a niche in the temple of fame. (See Books I. to VI. of my Memoirs.)
I was so utterly astonished, so thrown off my balance by this meeting, that
instead of accosting the monk, I remained motionless for some seconds, which
gave him time to get the start of me. Just heaven! said I, were there ever
two faces more exactly alike? I do not know what to make of it! It seems
incredible that Raphael should turn up in sucha guise! And yet how is it
possible to be any one else? I felt too great a curiosity to get at the truth not
to pursue the inquiry. Having ascertained the way to the monastery of the
Carthusians, I repaired thither immediately, in the hope of coming across the
object of my search on his return, and with the full intent of stopping and par-
leying with him. But it was quite unnecessary to wait for his arrival to en-
lighten my mind on the subject : on reaching the convent gate, another physi-
ognomy, such as few persons had read without paying for their lesson, resolved
all my doubts into certainty ; for the friar who served in the capacity of porter
was unquestionably my old and godly-visaged servant, Ambrose de Lamela.
Our surprise was equal on both sides at meeting again in such a place. Is
not this a play upon the senses? said I, paying my compliments to him. Is it
actually one of my friends who presents himself to my astonished sight? He
did not know me again at first, or probably might pretend not to do so ; but
reflecting within himself that it was in vain to deny his own identity, he assumed
the start of a man who all at once hits upon a circumstance which had hitherto
escaped his recollection. Ah, Signor Gil Blas! exclaimed he, excuse my not
recognizing your person immediately. Since I have lived in this holy place,
every faculty of my soul has been absorbed in the performance of the duties
prescribed by our rules, so that by degrees I lose the remembrance of all worldly
objects and events.
After a separation of ten years, said I, it gives me much pleasure to find you
again in so venerable a garb. For my part, answered he, it fills me with
shame and confusion to appear in it before a man who has been an eye-witness
of my guilty courses. These ghostly weeds are at once the charm of my present
life, and the condemnation of my former. Alas! added he, heaving a righteous
sigh, to be worthy of wearing it, my earlier years should have been passed in
primitive innocence. By this discourse, so rational and edifying, replied I, it
is plain, my dear brother, that the finger of the Lord has been upon you, that
you are marked out for a vessel of sanctification, I tell you once again, I am
delighted at it, and would give the world to know in what miraculous manner
you and Raphael were led into the path of the righteous ; for I am persuaded
that it was his own self whom I met in the town, habited as a Carthusian. I
was extremely sorry afterwards not to have stopped and spoken to him in the
street ; and I am waiting here to apologize for my neglect on his return.
You were not mistaken, said Lamela, it was Don Raphael himself whom
352 GIL BLAS.
you saw; and as for the particulars of our conversion, they are as follow: After
parting with you near Segorba, we struck into the Valencia road, with the design
of bettering our trade by some new speculation. Chance or destiny one day
led our steps into the church of the Carthusians, while service was performing
in the choir. The demeanour of the brethren attracted our notice, and we
experienced in our own persons the involuntary homage which vice pays to vir-
tue. We admired the fervour with which they poured forth their devotions,
their looks of pious mortification, their deadness to the pleasures of the world
and the flesh, and in the settled composure of their countenances, the outward
sign of an approving conscience within.
While making these observations, we fell into a train of thous which became
like manna to the hungry and thirsty soul : we compared our habits of life with
the employments of these holy men, and the wide difference between our spirit-
ual conditions filled us with confusion and ee. Lamela, said Don Raphael,
as we went out of church, how do you stand affected by what we have just
seen? For my part, there is no disguising the truth, my mind is ill at ease.
Emotions, new and indescribable, are rushing upon my mind ; and, for the first
time in my life, I reproach myself with the wickedness of my past actions. I
am just in the same temper of soul, answered I ; my iniquities are all drawn up
in array against me, they beset me, they stare me in the face ; my heart,
hitherto proof against all the arrows of remorse, is at this moment shot through,
torn and disfigured, tormented and destroyed. Ah! my dear Ambrose, resumed
my partner, we are two stray sheep, whom our Heavenly Father, in mercy,
would lead back gently to the fold. It is he himself, my child, it is he who
warms and guides us. Let us not be deaf to the call of his voice ; let us abandon
all our wicked courses, let us begin from this day to work out our salvation
with diligence and in the spirit of repentance: we had better spend the _re-
mainder of our days in this convent, and consecrate them to penitence and
devotion.
I of pee Raphael’s sentiment, continued brother Ambrose; and we
formed the glorious resolution of becoming Carthusians. To carry it into effect,
we applied to the venerable prior, who ;was no sooner made acquainted with
our purpose, than to ascertain whether our call was from the world above or
the world beneath, he appointed us to cells, and all the strictness of monkish
discipline, for a whole year. We acted up to the rules with equal regularity
and fortitude, and, by way of reward, were admitted among the novices. Our
condition was so much what we wished it, and our hearts were so full of religious
zeal, that we underwent the toils of our noviciate with unflinching courage.
When that was over, we professed ; after which, Don Raphael, appearing
admirably well qualified, both by natural talent and various experience, for the
management of secular concerns, was chosen assistant to an old friar who was
at that time proctor. The son of Lucinda would infinitely have preferred
dedicating every remaining moment of his existence to prayer ; but he found it
necessary to sacrifice his taste for devotion, in furtherance of the general pros-
perity. He entered with so much zeal and knowledge into the interests of the
house, that he was considered as the most eligible person to succeed the old
proctor, who died three years afterwards. Don Raphael accordingly fills that
office at present ; and it may be truly said that he discharges his duty to the
entire satisfaction of all our fathers, who praise in the highest terms his conduct
in the administration of our temporalities. What is most of all miraculous, and
shews the hand of heaven in his conversion, is that, with such an accumulation
of business rushing in upon him in his bursarial department, his regards are
inalienably fixed on the world tocome. When business leaves him but a moment
to recruit nature, instead of lavishing the short period in indulgence, his thoughts
GIL BLAS EXHORTED TO PIETY. 353
wing their way into the regions of devout and holy meditation. In short, he is
the most exemplary member of this body.
At this period of our conversation I interrupted Lamela by an ebullition of
joy to which I gave vent at the sight of Raphael coming in. Here he is!
exclaimed I : behold that righteous bursar for whom I have been so impatiently
waiting. With a leap and a bound did I run to meet and embrace him. He
submitted to the hug with his newly-acquired resignation ; and, without betray-
ing the slightest shock at meeting with an old companion of his profaner hours,
his words were dictated by the spirit of gentleness and humility: The powers
above be praised, Signor de Santillane, the powers be praised for this kind
providence whereby we meet again. In good truth, my dear Raphael, replied
I, your happy destiny pleases me as much as if it had been my own good luck;
brother Ambrose has told me the whole story of your conversion, and the tale
almost moved me to a similar change. What a glorious lot for you two, my
friends, when you have reason to flatter yourselves with being among that picked
number of the elect, who haye eternal happiness thrust upon them whether they
will or no!
Two miserable sinners like ourselves, resumed the son of Lucinda, with an
air which marked the extreme of sanctified morality, must not hope that our
own merits are of weight enough to save our souls ; but even the wicked one who
repenteth, findeth grace with the Father of mercies. And you, Signor Gil
Blas, added he, is it not time to lay in a claim for pardon of the offences which
you have committed ? What is your business here in Valencia? Are you not
hankering after some office of devil’s deputy, and making shipwreck of your
voyage to another world? Not so, by the blessing of heaven, answered I; since
I turned my back on the court, I have led a very moral sort of life : sometimes
enjoying rural recreations on an estate of mine at a few leagues distance from
this town, and sometimes coming hither to pass my time with my friend the
governor, whom you both of you must know perfectly well.
On this cue I related to them the story of Don Alphonso de Leyva. They
heard the particulars with attention ; and on my telling them that IT had carried
to Samuel Simon, on the part of that nobleman, the three thousand ducats of
which we had robbed him, Lamela interrupted the thread of my narrative, and
addressing his discourse to Raphael, said: Father Hilary, if this be true, the
honest vender of wares has no reason to quarrel with a robbery which has paid
him fifty per cent. ; and our consciences, as far as that indictment goes, may
bask in the sunshine of acquitted innocence. Brother Ambrose and I, said the
bursar, did actually, on the assumption of the habit, send Samuel Simon fifteen
hundred ducats privately, by a pious ecclesiastic who made a pilgrimage to
Xelva for the sole purpose of accomplishing this restitution ; but it will go hard
with Samuel at the general reckoning, if he for filthy lucre could soil his fingers
with that sum, after having been reimbursed in full by Signor de Santillane.
But, said I, how do you know that your fifteen hundred ducats were faithfully
paid into his hands? Unquestionably they were! exclaimed Don Raphael; I
would answer for the disinterested purity of that ecclesiastic as soon as for my
own. I would be your collateral security, said Lamela; he is a priest of the
strictest sanctity, a sort of universal almoner; and though many times cited for
sums of money, deposited with him for charitable uses, he has always non-
suited the plaintiffs, and gone out of court with an augmentation of alms-giving
notoriety.
Our conversation continued for some time longer: at length we parted, with
many a pious exhortation on their side, always to have the fear of the Lord
before my eyes, and with many an earnest intreaty on mine, that they would
remember me constantly in their prayers. Don Alphonso was now the first
354 GIL BLAS.
object of my search. You will never guess, said I, with whom I have just
had a long conference. I am but now come from two venerable Carthusians
of your acquaintance; the name of the one is father Hilary, that of the other,
brother Ambrose. You are mistaken, answered Don Alphonso; I am not
acquainted with a single Carthusian. Pardon me, replied I; you have seen
brother Ambrose at Xelva in the capacity of commissary, and father Hilary as
register to the Inquisition. Oh heaven! exclaimed the governor with surprise,
can it be within the bounds of possibility that Raphael and Lamela should have
turned Carthusians? It is even so, answered I; they professed several years
ago. The former is bursar and proctor to the convent ; the latter, porter.
The son of Don Cesar rubbed his forehead twice or thrice, then shaking his
head, These worshipful officers of the Inquisition, said he, most assuredly pur-
pose playing over the old farce on a new stage here. You judge of them by
prejudice, answered I, from the impression of their characters as men of sin:
but had you been edified by their lectures as I have been, you would think
more favourably of their holiness. To be sure, it is not for mortal men to
fathom the depth of other men’s hearts; but to all appearance they are two
prodigals returned home, It possibly may be so, replied Don Alphonso: there
are many instances of libertines, who hide their heads in cloisters, after having
scandalized human nature by their obliquities, to expiate their offences by a
severe penance: I heartily wish that our two monks may be such libertines
restored,
Well! and why not? said I. They have embraced the monastic life of their
own accord, and have squared their conduct for a length of time according to
the maxims of their order. You may say what you please, retorted the
governor; but I do not like the convent’s rents being received by this father
Hilary, of whom I cannot help entertaining a very untoward opinion, When —
the fine story he told us of his adventures comes across my mind, I tremble for
the reverend brotherhood. I am willing to believe with you, that he has taken
the vow with the pious intention of keeping it; but the blaze of gold may be
too much for the weakness of his regenerated eye-sight. It is bad policy to
lock up a reformed drunkard in a wine cellar.
In the course of a few days Don Alphonso’s misgivings were fully justified ;
these two official props and stays of the establishment ran away with the year’s
revenue. This news, which was immediately noised about the town, could
not do otherwise than set the tongues of the wits in motion; for they always
make themselves merry at the crosses and losses of the well-endowed religious
orders. As for the governor and myself, we condoled with the Carthusians,
but kept our acquaintance with the apostate pilferers in the background. _
Cu. VII.—Gil Blas returns to his seat at Lirias. Scipio's agreeable intelligence,
' and a reform in the domestic arrangements.
I PASSED a week at Valencia in the first company, living on equal terms with
‘the best of the nobility. Plays, balls, concerts, grand dinners, ladies’ parties,
: __ all things that heart could wish or vanity grow tall upon, were provided for me
~ by the governor and his lady, to whom I paid my court so dexterously, that
they were heartily sorry to see me set out on my return to Lirias. They even
obliged me, before they would let me go, to engage for a division of my time
between them and my hermitage. It was determined that I should spend the
winter in Valencia, and the summer at my seat. After this bargain, my bene-
factors left me at liberty to tear myself from them, and go where their kindness
would be always staring me in the face. .
Scipio, who was waiting impatiently for my return, was ready to jump out
A LIBRARY FOUND IN GIL BLAS’S HOUSE. 355
of his skin for joy at the sight of me; and his ecstacies were doubled at my
circumstantial account of the journey. And now for your history, my friend,
said I, taking breath: to what moral uses have you turned the solitary period
of my absence? Has the time passed agreeably? As well, answered he, as it
could with a servant to whom nothing is so dear as the presence of his master. _
I have walked over our little domain, circuitously and diagonally: sometimes
seated on the margin of a fountain in our wood, I have taken pleasure in be-
holding the transparency of its waters, which are as pellucid as those of the
sacred spring, whose projection from the rock made the vast forest of Albunea
to resound with the roar of the cascade: sometimes lying at the foot of a tree,
I have listened to the song of the linnet or the nightingale. At other times I
have hunted or fished; and, what has given me more rational delight than all
these pastimes, I have whiled away many a profitable hour in the improvement
of my mind.
I interrupted my secretary in a tone of eager inquiry, to ask where he had
procured books. I found them, said he, in an elegant library here in the
house, whither master Joachim took me. Heyday! in what corner, resumed
I, can this said library be? Did we not go over the whole building on the day
of our arrival? You fancied so, rejoined he; but you are to know that we
only explored three sides of the square, and forgot the fourth. It was there
that Don Czesar, when he came to Lirias, employed part of his time in reading.
There are in this library some very good books, left as a never-failing phylactery
against the blue devils, when our gardens despoiled of Flora’s treasure, and
our woods of their leafy honours, shall no longer challenge those miscreant
invaders to combat in the forest or the bower. The lords of Leyva have
not done things by halves, but have catered for the mind as well as for the
body.
This intelligence filled me with sincere rapture. I was shewn to the fourth
side of the square, and feasted with an intellectual banquet. Don Cesar’s room
I immediately determined to make my own. That nobleman’s bed was still
there, with correspondent furniture, consisting of historical tapestry, represent-
ing the rape of the Sabine women by the Romans. From the bed-chamber, I
went into a closet fitted up with low bookcases well filled, and over them the
portraits of the Spanish kings. Near a window whence you command a pros-
pect of a most bewitching country, there was an ebony writing-desk and a
large sofa, covered with black morocco. But I gave my attention principally
to the library. It was composed of philosophers, poets, historians; and
abounded in romances. Don Cesar seemed to give the preference to that
light reading, if one might judge by the profusion of supply. I must own, to
my shame, that my taste was not at all above the level of those productions,
notwithstanding the extravagances they delight in stringing together: whether
it was owing to my not being a very critical reader at that time, or because the
Spaniards are naturally addicted to the marvellous. I must nevertheless plead
in my own justification, that I was alive to the charms of a sprightly and
popular morality, and that Lucian, Horace, and Erasmus became my favourite
and standard authors.
My friend, said I to Scipio, when my eyes had coursed over my library, here
is wherewithal to feed and pamper our minds; but our present business is to
reform our household. On that subject I can spare you a great deal of trouble,
answered he. During-your absence I have sifted your people thoroughly, and
flatter myself it is no empty boast to say that I know them. Let us begin
with master Joachim: I take him to be as great a scoundrel as ever breathed,
and have no doubt but he was turned away from the archbishop’s for errors
which were too great to be excepted in the passing of his accounts. Yet we
356 GIL BLAS.
must keep him for two reasons: the first, because he is a good cook; and the
second, because I shall always have an eye over him; I shall peep into his
actions like a jackdaw into a marrow-bone, and he must be a more cunning
fellow than I take him for, to evade my vigilance. I have already told him
that you intended discharging three-fourths of your establishment. ‘This de-
claration stuck in his stomach; and he assured me that, owing to his extreme
desire of living with you, he would be satisfied with half his present wages
rather than be turned off, which made me suspect that he was tied to the string
of some petticoat in the hamlet, and did not like to break up his quarters. As
for the under-cook, he is a drunkard, and the porter a foul-mouthed Cerberus,
of whose guardianship our gates are in no want; neither is the gamekeeper a
necessary evil. I shall take the latter office myself, as you may see to-morrow,
when we have got our fowling-pieces in order, and are provided with powder
and shot. With regard to the footmen, one of them is an Arragonese, and to
my mind a very good sort of fellow. We will keep him; but all the rest are
such rapscallions, that I would not advise you to harbour one of them, if you
wanted an army of attendants.
After having fully debated the point, we resolved to keep well with the cook,
the scullion, the Arragonese, and‘to get rid of the remainder as decently as we
could; all which was ee and executed on the same day, mollifying the
bitter dose by the application of a few pistoles, which Scipio took from our
strong box, and distributed among them as from me, When we had carried
this reform into effect, order was soon established in our mansion; we divided
the business fairly among our remaining people, and began to look into our
expenses. I could willingly have been contented with very frugal commons ;
but my secretary, loving high dishes and relishing bits, was not a man who
would suffer master Joachim to hold his place as a sinecure. He kept his
talents in such constant play, working double tides at dinner and at supper, that
any one would have thought we had been converted by father Hilary, and
were working out the term of our probation.
Cu. VIII.—TZhe loves of Gil Blas and the fair Antonia.
Two days after my return from Valencia to Lirias, clodpole Basil, my farming
man, came at my dressing-time, to beg the favour of introducing his daughter
Antonia, who was very desirous, as he said, to have the honour of paying her
respects to her new master. I answered that it was very proper, and would be
well received. He withdrew, and in a few minutes returned with his peerless
Antonia. That epithet, though bold, will not be thought extravagant, in the
case of a girl from sixteen to eighteen years of age, uniting to regular features
the finest complexion and the brighest eyes in the world. She was dressed in
nothing better than a stuff gown; but a stature somewhat above the female
standard, a dignified deportment, and such graces as soared higher than the
mere freshness and glow of youth, communicated to her rustic attire the sim-
exer of classical costume. She had no cap on her head ; her hair was fastened
ehind with a knot of flowers, according to the chaste severity of the Spartan
fashionables.
When she illumined my chamber with her presence, I was struck as much on
a heap by her beauty, as ever were the princes, knights, nobles, and strangers
assembled at the solemn feast and tournament of Charlemain, by the personal
charms of Angelica. Instead of receiving Antonia with me § indifference,
and paying her compliments of course, instead of ringing the changes on her
father’s happiness in possessing so lovely a daughter, I stood stock still, staring,
gaping, stammering: I could not have uttered an articulate sound for the uni-
THE LOVES OF GIL BLAS AND ANTONIA. 357
versal world. Scipio, who saw clearly what was the matter with me, took
the words out of my mouth, and accepted those bills of admiration which my
affairs were in too much disorder to admit of my duly honouring. For her
part, my figure being shrouded by a dressing-gown and night-cap, like the orb
of day by a winter fog, she accosted me without being shame-faced, and paid
her duty in terms which fired all the combustibles in my composition, though
her words were but the holiday expressions of common-place salutation, In
the mean time, while my secretary, Basil, and his daughter, were engaged in
reciprocal exchange of civility, I found my senses again; and passed from one
extreme of absurdity to another, just as if I had thought that a hare-brained
loquacity would be a set-off against the idiotic silence of my first encounter. I
exhausted all my stock of well-bred rodomontade; and expressed myself
with so unguarded a freedom, as to make Basil look about him: so that he,
with his eye upon me as a man who would set every engine at work to seduce
Antonia, was in a hurry to get her safely out of my apartment, with a resolved
purpose, probably, of withdrawing her for ever from my pursuit.
Scipio finding himself alone with me, said with a smile: Here is another
defence for you against the blue devils! I did not know that your farming man
had so pretty a daughter; for I had never seen her before, though I have been
twice at his house. He must have taken infinite pains to keep her out of the
way, and it is impossible to be angry with him for it. "What the plague! here
is a morsel for a liquorish palate! But there seems to be no necessity for bla-
zoning her perfections to you; their very first glance dazzled you out of coun-
tenance. I do not deny it, answered I. Ah! my beloved friend, I have surely
seen an inhabitant of the realms above; the electrical spark now thrills through
all my frame, it scorches like lightning, yet tingles like the vivifying fluid at
my heart.
You delight me beyond measure, replied my secretary, by giving me to un-
derstand that you have at length fallen in love. Nothing but a mistress was
wanting to complete your rural establishment at all points. ‘Thanks to Hea-
ven, you are now likely to be accommodated in every way. Iam well aware
that we shall have a hard matter to elude Basil’s vigilance; but leave that to
me, and I will undertake before the end of three days to manage a private
meeting for you with Antonia. Master Scipio, said I, it is not so sure that
you would be able to keep your word; but at all events, I have not the least
desire to make the experiment. I will have nothing to do with the ruin of that
girl; for she is an angel, and does not deserve to be numbered among the
fallen ones. Therefore, instead of laying the guilt upon your soul of assisting
me in her dishonour, I have made up my mind to marry her with your kind
help, supposing her heart not to be pre-occupied by a prior attachment. I had
no idea, said he, of your directly plunging headlong into the cold bath of matri-
mony. ‘The generality of landlords, in your place, would stand upon the
ancient tenure of manorial rights: -they would not deal with Antonia upon the
square of modern law and gospel, till after failure in the establishment of their
feudal privileges. But though this may be the way of the world, do not sup-
pose that I am by any means against your honourable passion, or at all wish to
dissuade you from your purpose. Your bailiff’s daughter deserves the distinc-
tion you design for her, if she can give you the first-fruits of her heart, an offer-
ing of sensibility and gratitude; that is what I shall ascertain this very day by
talking with her father, and possibly with her.
My agent was a man to transact his business according to the letter. He
went to see Basil privately, and in the evening came to me in my closet, where
I waited for him with impatience, somewhat exasperated by apprehension.
There was a slyness in his countenance, whence my prognostic inclined to the
358 GIL BLAS.
brighter side. Judging, said I, by that look of suppressed merriment, you are
come to acquaint me that I shall soon be at the summit of human bliss. Yes,
my dear master, answered he, the heavens smile upon your vows. I have
talked the matter over with Basil and his daughter, declaring your intentions
without reserve. The father is delighted at the idea of your asking his blessing
as a son-in-law; and you may set your heart at rest about Antonia’s taste in a
husband, Warts and flames! cried I in an ecstacy of amorous transport;
what! am’I so happy as to have made myself agreeable to that lovely creature ?
Never question it, replied he; she loves you already. It is true, she has not
owned so much by word of mouth; but my assurance rests on the tale-telling
sparkle of her eye, when your proposals were made known to her. And yet
you havea rival! A rival! exclaimed I, with a faltering voice, and a cheek
blanched with fear. Do not let that give you the least uneasiness, said he;
your competitor cannot bid very high, for he is no other than master Joachim
your cook, Ah! the hangdog! said I, with an involuntary shout of laughter :
this is the reason, then, why he had so great an objection to being turned out
of my service. Exactly so, answered Scipio; within these few days he made
proposals of marriage to Antonia, who politely declined them. With submis-
sion to your better judgment, replied I, it would be expedient, at least so it
strikes me, to get rid of that strange fellow, before he is informed of my in-
tended match with Basil’s daughter: a cook, as you are aware, is a dangerous
rival, You are perfectly in the right, rejoined my trusty counsellor; we must
clear the premises of him—he shall receive his discharge from me to-morrow
morning, before he puts a finger in the fricandeaus; thus you will have nothing
more to fear either from his poisonous sauces or bewitching tongue. Yet it goes
rather against the grain with me to part with so good a cook; but I sacrifice
the interests of my own belly to the preservation of your precious person, You
need not, said I, take on so for his loss: he had no exclusive patent; and I
will send to Valencia for a cook, who shall outcook all his fine cookery. Ac-
cording to my promise I wrote immediately to Don Alphonso, to let him know
that our kitchen wanted a prime minister; and on the following day he filled
up the vacancy in so worthy a manner, as reconciled Scipio at once to the
change in culinary politics.
Though my adroit and active secretary had assured me of Antonia’s secret
self-congratulation on the conquest of her landlord’s heart, I could not venture
to rely solely on his report. I was fearful lest he should have been entrapped
by false appearances, To be more certain of my bliss, I determined on speak-
ing in person to the fair Antonia. I therefore went to Basil’s house, and con-
firmed to him what my ambassador had announced. This honest peasant, of
patriarchal simplicity and golden-aged frankness, after having heard me through,
did not hesitate to own that it would be the greatest happiness of his life to give
me his daughter ; but, added he, you are by no means to suppose that it is be-
cause you are lord of the manor, Were you still steward to Don Cesar and
Don Alphonso, I should prefer you to all other suitors who might apply I
have always felt a sort of kindness towards you : and nothing vexes me, but that
Antonia has not a thumping fortune to bring with her. I want not the vile
dross, said I ; her person is the only dowry that I covet. Your humble servant
for that, cried he ; but you will not settle accounts with me after that fashion ;
Iam not a beggar, to marry my daughter upon charity. Basil de Buenotrigo
is in circumstances, by the blessing of Providence, to portion her off decently ;
and I mean that she should set out a little supper, if you are to be at the ex-
pense of dinners. In a word, the rental of this estate is only five hundred
ducats : I shall raise it to a thousand on the strength of this marriage.
Just as you please, my dear Basil, replied I ; we are not likely to have any
THE LOVES OF GIL BLAS AND ANTONIA. 359
dispute about money matters. We are both of a mind; all that remains is to
get your daughter’s consent. You have mine, said he, and that is enough.
Not altogether so, answered I ; though yours may be absolutely necessary, no
business can be done without hers. Hers follows mine of course, replied he ; I
should like to catch her murmuring against my sovereign commands ! Antonia,
rejoined I, with dutiful submission to paternal authority, is ready without ques-
tion to obey your will implicitly in all things ; but I know not whether in the
present instance she would do so without violence to her own feelings ; and
should that be the case, I could never forgive myself for being the occasion of
unhappiness to her ; in short, it is not enough that I obtain her hand from you,
if her heart is to heave a sigh at the decision of her destiny. Oh, blessed vir-
gin! said Basil, all these fine doctrines of philosophy are far above my reach ;
speak to Antonia your own self, and you will find, or Iam very much mistaken,
that she wishes for nothing better than to be your wife. These words were no
sooner out of his mouth than he called his daughter, and left me with her for a
few short minutes.
Not to trifle with so precious an opportunity, I broke my mind to her at once:
Lovely Antonia, said 1, it remains with you to fix the colour of my future days.
Though I have your father’s consent, do not think so meanly of me as to sup-
pose that I would avail myself of it to violate the sacred freedom of your choice.
Rapturous as must be the possession of your charms, I waive my pretensions if
you but tell me that your duty and not your will complies. It would be affect-
ation to put on such a repugnance, answered she ; the honour of your addresses
is too flattering to excite any other than agreeable sensations, and Iam thankful
for my father’s tender care of me, instead of demurring to his will. I am not
sure whether such an acknowledgment may not be contrary to the rules of fe-
male reserve in the polite world ; but if you were disagreeable to me, I should
be plain-spoken enough to tell you so ; why, then, should I not be equally free
in owning the kind feelings of my heart ?
At sounds like these, which I could not hear without being enraptured, I
dropped on my knee before Antonia, and in the excess of my tender emotions,
taking one of her fair hands, kissed it with an affectionate and impassioned ac-
tion. My dear Antonia, said I, your frankness enchants me ; go on, let nothing
induce you to depart from it ; you are conversing with your future husband ;
let your soul expand itself, and. reveal all its inmost emotions in his presence.
Thus, then, may I entertain the flattering hope that you will not frown on the
union of our destinies! The coming in of Basil at this moment prevented me
from giving further vent to the delightful sensations which thrilled through me.
Impatient to know how his daughter had behaved, and ready primed for scold-
ing in case she had been perverse or coy, he made up tome immediately. Well,
now ! said he, are you satisfied with Antonia? So much so, answered I, that
I am going this very moment to set forward the preparations for our marriage.
So saying, I left the father and daughter, for the purpose of taking counsel with
my secretary thereupon.
Cu. IX.—Nupitials of Gil Blas with the fair Antonia ; the style and manner of
the ceremony ; the persons assisting thereat ; and the festivities ensuing there-
upon.
THOUGH there was no occasion to consult with the lords of Leyva about my
marriage, yet both Scipio and myself were of opinion that I could not decently
do otherwise than communicate to them my Lt ene of connecting myself with
Basil’s daughter, and just pay them the compliment of asking their advice, after
the act was finally determined on,
360 GIL BLAS.
I immediately went off for Valencia, where my visit was a matter of surprise,
and still more the purport of it. Don Czsar and Don Alphonso, who were ac-
quainted with Antonia, having seen her more than once, wished me joy on my
good fortune in a wife. Don Cesar, in particular, made his speech upon the
occasion with so much youthful fire, that if there had not been reason to sup-
pose his lordship weaned, by that icy moralist, time, from certain naughty pro-
pensities, I should have suspected him of going to Lirias now and then, not so
much to look after his concerns there, as after his little empress of the dairy.
' Seraphina, too, with the kindest assurances of a lively interest in whatever might
befall me, said that she had heard a very favourable character of Antonia ; but,
added she, with a malicious fling, as if to taunt me with my supercilious recep-
tion of Sephora’s amorous advances, even though her beauty had not been so
much the talk of the country, I could have depended on your taste, from former
experience of its delicacy and fastidiousness.
on Ceesar and his son did not stop at cold yet ogg of my marriage, but
declared that they would defray all the expenses of it. Measure back your steps,
said they, to Lirias, and stay quietly there till you hear further from us. Make
no preparation for your nuptials, for we shall make that ourconcern. To meet
their kind intentions with becoming gratitude, I returned to my mansion, and
acquainted Basil and his daughter with the projected kindness of our patrons,
We determined to wait their pleasure with as much patience as falls to the lot
of poor human nature under such circumstances. Eight long days dragged out
their tedious measure, and brought no tidings of our bliss. But the rewards of
self-control are not the less assured for being slow : on the ninth, a coach drawn
by four mules drove up, with a cargo of mantua-makers for the bride, and an
assortment of rich silks on which to exercise their art. Several livery servants,
mounted on mules, accompanied the cavalcade. One of them brought me a
letter from Don Alphonso. ‘That nobleman sent me word that he would be
at Lirias next day with his father and his wife, and that the marriage ceremony
should be performed on the day after that, by the vicar-general of Valencia.
And just so it came to pass: Don Czesar, his son, and Seraphina, with that
venerable dignitary, were punctual to their appointment ; all four of them in a
coach and six ; none of your mules, like the mantua-makers !| preceded by an-
other coach and four, with Seraphina’s women ; and the rear was brought up
by a company of the governor’s guards.
The governor’s lady had hardly entered the house, before she testified an ar-
dent longing to see Antonia, who on her part no sooner knew that Seraphina
was arrived, than she ran forward to bid her welcome, with a respectful kiss
upon her hand, so gracefully and modestly impressed, that all the company were
enchanted at the action. And now, madam! said Don Cesar to his daughter-
in-law, what do you think of Antonia? Could Santillane have made a better
choice? No, answered Seraphina, they are worthy each of the other ; there can
be no doubt but their union will be most happy. Inshort, every one was lavish
in the praise of my intended ; and if they felt her beams so powerfully under
the eclipse of a stuff gown, what must they not have endured from her bright-
ness, in the meridian sunshine of her wedding finery? One would have fancied
she had been clothed in silks, jewels, and fine linen from her cradle, by the dig-
nity of her air and the ease of her deportment.
The happy moment which was to unite two fond lovers in the bands of Hy-
men being arrived, Don Alphonso took me by the hand and led meto the altar,
while Seraphina conferred the like honour on the bride elect. Our procession
had marched in fit and decent order through the hamlet to the chapel, where
the vicar-general was waiting to go through the service ; and the ceremony was
performed amidst the heartfelt congratulations of the inhabitants, and of all the
WEDDING OF GIL BLAS AND ANTONIA. 361
wealthy farmers in the neighbourhood, whom Basil had invited to Antonia’s
wedding. Their daughters too came in their train, tricked out in ribbons and
in flowers, and dancing to the music of their own tambourines. We returned
to the mansion under the same escort : and there, by the provident attentions
of Scipio, who officiated as high steward and master of the ceremonies, we
found three tables set out ; one for the principals of the party, another for their
household, and the third, which was by far the largest, for all invited guests
promiscuously. Antonia was at the first, the governor's lady having made a point
of it ; I did the honours of the second, and Basil was placed at the head of that
where the country people dined. As for Scipio, he never sat down, but was
here, there, and everywhere, fetching and carrying, changing plates and filling
bumpers, urging the company to call freely for what they wanted, and egging
them on to mirth and jollity.
The entertainment had been prepared by the governor’s cooks ; and that is
as much as to say, that there were all the delicacies imaginable, in season or out
of season. The good wines laid in for me by master Joachim, were set running
at a furious rate ; the guests were beginning to feel their jovial influence, plea-
santry and repartee gave a zest and conviviality, when on a sudden our har-
mony was interrupted by an alarming occurrence. My secretary, being in the
hall where I was dining with Don Alphonso’s principal officers and Seraphina’s
women, suddenly fainted. I started up and ran to his assistance ; and while I
was employed in bringing him about, one of the women was taken ill also. It
was evident to the whole company that this sympathetic malady must involve
some mysterious incident, as in effect it turned out almost immediately, that
thereby hung a tale ; for Scipio soon recovered, and said to me in a low voice,
Why must one man’s meat be another man’s poison, and the most auspicious of
your days the curse of mine? But every man bears the bundle of his sins upon
his back, and my pack-saadle is once more thrown across my shoulders in the
person of my wife.
Powers of mercy! exclaimed I, this can never be; it is all a romance.
What! you the husband of that lady whose nerves were so affected by the dis-
turbance? Yes, sir, answered he, 1 am her husband; and fortune, if you will
take the word of a sinner, could not have done me a dirtier office than by con-
juring up such a grievance as this. I know not, my friend, replied I, what
reasons you may have for thus belabouring your rib with wordy buffets, but
however she may be to blame, in mercy keep a bridle on your tongue; if you
have any regard for me, do not displace the mirth and spoil the pleasure of this
nuptial meeting, by ominous disorder or enraged questions of past injuries.
You shall have no reason to complain on that score, rejoined Scipio; but shall
see presently whether I am not a very apt dissembler.
With this assurance he went forward to his wife, whom her companions had
also brought back to life and recollection; and, embracing her with as much
apparent fervour as if his raptures had been real, Ah, my dear Beatrice, said
he, heaven has at length united us again after ten years of cruel separation !
But this blissful moment is well purchased by whole ages ‘of torturing sus-
pense! I know not, answered his spouse, whether you really are at all the
happier for having recovered a part of yourself: but of this at least I am fully
certain, that you never had any reason to run away from meas youdid. A
fine story indeed! You found me one night with Signor Don Ferdinand de
Leyva, who was in love with my mistress Julia, and consulted me on the sub-
ject of his passion; and only for that, you must take it into your stupid head,
that I was caballing with him against your honour and my own: thereupon
that poor brain of yours was turned with jealousy; you quitted Toledo in a
huff, and ran away from your own flesh and blood as you would from a mon-
362 GIL BLAS.
ster of the deserts, without leaving word why or wherefore. Now which of us
two, be so good as to tell me, has most reason to take on and be pettish?
Your own dear self, beyond all question, replied Scipio, Beyond all question,
re-echoed she, my own ill-used self. Don Ferdinand, very shortly after you
had taken yourself off from Toledo, married Julia, with whom I continued as
long as she lived; and, after we had lost her by sudden death, I came into my
lady her sister’s service, who, as well as all her maids, and I would do as much
for them, will give me a good character; honest and sober, and a very terma-
gant among the impertinent fellows.
My secretary, having nothing to allege against such a character from my
lady and her maids, was determined to make the best of a bad bargain. Once
for all, said he to his spouse, I acknowledge my bad behaviour, and beg par-
don for it before this honourable assembly. It was now time for me to act the
mediator, and to move Beatrice for an act of amnesty, assuring her that her
husband from this time forward would make it the great object of his life to
play the husband to her satisfaction. She began to see that there was reason
in roasting of eggs, and all present were loud in their congratulations, on the
triumph of suffering virtue, and the renovated pledge of broken vows. To bind
the contract firmer, and make it memorable, they were seated next to one
another at table; their healths were drank according to the laws of toasting ;
wish you joy! many returns of this happy day! rang round on every side: one
would have sworn that the dinner was given for their reconciliation, and not on
account of my marriage.
The third table was the first to be cleared. The young villagers jumped u
in a body; the lads took out their blooming partners; the tambourines struc
up a merry beat; spectators flocked from the other tables, and caught the en-
livening spirit from the gay bustle of the scene. Every limb and muscle of
every individual was in motion: the household of the governor and his lady
formed a set, apart from the rustics of the company, while their superiors did
not disdain to mingle with the homelier dancers. Don Alphonso danced a
saraband with Seraphina, and Don Cesar another with Antonia, who after-
wards took me for her partner. She did not perform much amiss, considering
that she never got much further than the five positions, in learning which she
had her ankles kicked to pieces by a provincial dancing-master at Albarazin,
while on a visit to a tradesman’s wife, one of her relations. As for me, who,
as I have already said, had taken lessons at the Marchioness de Chaves’s, I
figured away as the principal man in this rural ballet. With regard to Beatrice
and Scipio, they preferred a little private conversation to dancing, that they
might compare notes on the subject of wear and tear during the painful
period of separation: but their billing and cooing was interrupted by Sera-
phina, who, having been informed of this dramatic discovery, sent for them to
pay the customary compliments of congratulation. My good people, said she,
on this day of general joy, it gives me additional pleasure to see you two re-
stored to one another. My friend Scipio, I return you your wife under a firm
belief that she has always conducted herself as became a woman; take up your
abode with her here, and be a good husband to her. And you, Beatrice,
attach yourself to Antonia, and let her be as much the object of your devoted
service as Signor de Santillane is that of your husband. Scipio, who could
not possibly, after this, think of Penelope as fit to hold a candle to his own
wife, promised to treat her with all the deference due to such a paragon of
conjugal fidelity.
The country people, having kept up the dance till late, withdrew to their
own homes ; but the rejoicings were prolonged by the company in the house.
There was a grand supper, and at bed-time the vicar-general pronounced thw
THE HONE Y-MOON. 363
blessing of consummation. Seraphina undressed the bride, and the lords of
Leyva did me the same honour. The ridiculous part of the business was, that
Don Alphonso’s officers and his lady’s attendants took it into their heads, by
way of diverting themselves, to perform the same ceremony: they also un-
dressed Beatrice and Scipio, who, to render the scene supremely farcical,
gravely allowed themselves to be untrussed, and put to bed with all nuptial
pomp and state.
Cu. X.— The honey-moon (a very dull time for the reader as a third person) en-
livened by the commencement of Scipio's story.
‘Tis heaven itself, ’tis ecstacy of bliss,
Uninterrupted joy, untired excess ;
Mirth following mirth, the moments dance away ;
Love claims the night, and friendship rules the day.”
On the day after the wedding the lords of Leyva returned to Valencia, after
having lavished on me a thousand marks of friendship, There was such a
general clearance, that my secretary and myself, with our respective wives,
and our usual establishment, were left in undisturbed possession of our own
home.
The efforts which we both made to please our ladies were not thrown away:
I breathed by degrees into the partner of my joys and sorrows as much love for
me as I entertained for her; and Scipio made his better part forget the woes
and privations he had occasioned her. Beatrice, who had very winning ways
with her, and was all things to all women, had no difficulty about worming
herself into the good graces of her new mistress, and gaining her complete con-
fidence. In short, we all four agreed admirably well together, and began to
enjoy a bliss above the common lot of humanity, Every day rolled along more
delightfully than the last. Antonia was pensive and demure; but Beatrice and
myself were enlisted in the crew of mirth; and even though we had been con-
stitutionally sedate, Scipio was among us, and he was of himself a pill to purge
melancholy. The best creature in the world for a snug little party! one of
those merry drolls who have only to shew their comical faces, and set the table
in a roar of inextinguishable laughter.
One day, when we had taken a fancy to go after dinner, and doze away the
usual interval in the most sequestered spot about the grounds, my secretary got
into such exuberant spirits, as to chase away the drowsy god by his exhilarating
sallies. Do hold ycur tongue, my loquacious friend, said I: or else, if you are
determined to wage war against this lazy custom of our afternoons, at least tell
us something which we shall be the wiser for hearing. With all my heart and
soul, sir, answered he. Would you have me go through all fabulous histories
of wandering knights, distressed damsels, giants, enchanted castles, and the
whole train of legendary adventures? I had much rather hear your own true
history, replied I; but that is a pleasure which you have not thought fit to give
me so long as we have lived together, and I seem likely to go without it to the
end of the chapter. How happens that? said he. If I have not told you my
own story, it is because you never expressed the slightest wish to be troubled
with the recital: therefore it is not my fault if you are in the dark about my
past life; but if you are really at all curious to be let into the secret, my loqua-
city is very much at your service on the occasion. Antonia, Beatrice, and
myself, unanimously took him at his word, and arranged ourselves for listening
like an attentive audience. The speculation was a safe one on our parts; for
the tale was sure to answer, either as a stimulant or a soporific,
364 GIL BLAS.
I certainly ought to have been descended, said Scipio, from some family of
the highest rank and earliest antiquity; or in default of such parentage, from
the most distinguished orders of personal merit, such as that of St James or
Alcantara, if a man may be permitted to decide on the fittest circumstances for
his own birth: but as it is not among the privileges of human nature to elect
one’s own father, you are to know that mine, by name Torribio Scipio, was a
subaltern myrmidon of the Holy Brotherhood. As he was going back and fore
on the king’s highway, and looking after business in his own line, he met once
on a time, between Cuenca and Toledo, with a young Bohemian babe of
chance, who appeared very pretty in his eyes. She was alone, on foot, and
carried her whole patrimony at her back in a kind of knapsack. Whither are
you going, my little darling? said he in a philandering tone of voice, unlike the
natural hoarseness of his accents. Good worthy gentleman, answered she, I
am going to Toledo, where I hope to gain an honest livelihood by hook or by
erook. Your intentions are highly commendable, retorted he; and I doubt
not but you have many a hook and many a crook among the implements of
your trade. Yes, with a blessing on my endeavours, rejoined she: I have
several little ways of doing for myself: I know how to make washes and
creams for the ladies’ faces, perfumes for their noses and their chambers; then
T can tell fortunes, can search for things lost with a sieve and shears, and erect
figures for the taking in of shadows with a glass,
Torribio, concluding that so well-provided a girl would be a very advantage-
ous match for a man like himself, who could scarcely scrape wherewithal to
support life by his own profession, though he was as good a thief-taker as the
best of them, made her an offer of marriage, and she was nothing loth, nor
prudishly coy. They flew on the wings of inclination and convenience to To-
ledo, where they were joined together ; sit fe behold in me the happy pledge
of holy and lawful matrimony. They fixed themselves in a shop on the out-
skirts of the town, where my mother commenced her career by selling the said
washes, creams, tapes, laces, silk, thread, toys, and pedlar’s ware; but trade
not being brisk enough to live comfortably by it, she turned fortune-teller.
This drew her customers, got her countenance, credit, crowns, and pistoles: a
thousand dupes of either sex soon trumpeted up the reputation of Coselina; for
so my gipsy mamma had the honour to be named. Some one or other came
every day to bargain for the exercise of her skill in the black art: at one time
a nephew at his wit’s and purse’s end, wanting to know how soon his uncle was
to set off post for the other world, and leave behind him wherewithal to piece
his worn-out fortunes: at another, some yielding, love-sick girl, to inquire
whether the swain who kept her company, and had promised to marry her,
would keep his word or be false-hearted.
You will take notice, if you please, that my mother always sold good luck
for good money; if the accomplishment trod on the heels of the prediction,
well and good; if it was fulfilled according to the rule of contraries, she was
always cool, though the parties were ever so violently in a passion, and told
them plainly that it was her familiar’s fault, not hers; for though she paid him
the highest wages, and bound him by potent spells to stir up the cauldron of
futurity from the bottom, like earthly cooks, he would sometimes be careless or
out of humour, and apportion the ingredients wrongly.
When my mother thought the conjuncture momentous enough to raise the
devil without cheapening him in the eyes of the vulgar, Torribio Scipio enacted
his infernal majesty, and played the part just as if he had been born to it,
humouring the hideous features of the character by a very small aggravation of
his own natural face, and practising the pandemonian note of elocution in the
lower octave of his voice. A person in the slightest degree superstitious would
SCIPIO’S STORY. 365
be scared out of his senses at my father’s figure. But one day, as his satanic
prototype would have it, there came a savage rascal of a captain, who asked to
see the devil, for no earthly purpose but to run him clean through the body.
The Inquisition, having received notice of the devil’s death, sent to take charge
of his widow, and administer to his effects; as for poor little me, just seven
years old at the time, I was sent to the foundling hospital. There were some
charitable ecclesiastics on that establishment, who, being liberally paid for the
education of the poor orphans, were so zealous in their office as to teach them
reading and writing. They fancied there was something particularly promising
about me, which made them pick me out from all the rest, and send me on
their errands. I was letter-carrier, messenger, and chapel clerk. As a token
of their gratitude, they undertook to teach me Latin; but their mode of tuition
was so harsh, and their discipline so severe, though I was a sort of pet with
them, that, not being able to stand it any longer, I ran away one morning while
out on an errand; and, so far from returning to the hospital, got out of Toledo
through the suburbs on the Seville side.
Though I had not then completed my ninth year, I already felt the pleasure
of being free, and master of my own actions. I was without money and with-
out food ; no matter! I had no lessons to say by heart, no themes to hammer
out. After having pushed on for two hours, my little legs began to refuse their
office. I had never before made so longatrip. It became necessary to stop
and take some rest. Isat myself down at the foot of a tree close by the high-
way ; there, by way of amusement, I took my grammar out of my pocket, and
began conning it over by way of a joke; but at length, coming to recollect the
raps on the knuckles, and the castigations on the more classical seat of punish-
ment which it had cost me, I tore it leaf by leaf with an apostrophe of angry
import. Ah! you odious thing of a book! you shall never make me shed
tears any more. While I was assuaging my vindictive spirit, by strewing the
ground about me with declensions and conjugations, there passed that way a
hermit with a white beard, with a large pair of spectacles on his nose, and
altogether an outside of much sanctity. He .ame up to me; and, if I was an
object of speculation to him, he was no less so to me. My little man, said he
with a smile, it should seem as if we had beth taken a sudden liking to each
other, and in that case we cannot do better than to live together in my hermit-
age, which is not two hundred yards distant. Your most obedient for that,
answered I pertly enough ; I have not the least desire to turn hermit. At this
answer, the good old man set up a roar of laughter, and said with a kind em-
brace : You must not be frightened at my dress ; if it is not becoming, it is
useful ; it gives me my title to a charming retreat, and to the goud-will of the
neighbouring villages, whose inhabitants love or rather idolize me. Come
this way, and I will clothe you in a jacket of the same stuff as mine. If you
think well of it, you shall share with me the pleasures of the life I lead ; and, if
it does not hit your fancy, you shall not only be at liberty to leave me, but you
may depend on it that in the event of our parting, I shall not fail to do some-
thing handsome by you.
I suffered myself to be. persuaded, and followed the old hermit, who put
several questions to me, which I answered with a truth-telling simplicity, not
always to be found in a more advanced stage of morality. On our arrival at
the hermitage he set some fruit before me, which I devoured, having eaten
nothing all day but a slice of dry bread, on which I had breakfasted at the
hospital inthe morning. ‘The recluse, seeing me play so good a part with my
jaws, said : Courage, my good boy, do not spare my fruit ; there is plenty of
it, Heaven be praised. I have not brought you hither tostarve you. And in-
deed that was true enough ; for an hour after our coming in, he kindled a fire,
366 GIL BLAS.
put a leg of mutton down to roast ; and while I turned the spit, laid a small
table for himself and me, with a very dirty napkin upon it.
When the meat was done enough he took it up, and cut some slices for our
supper, which was no dry bargain, since we quaffed a delicious wine, of which
he had laid in ample store. Well! my chicken, said he, as he rose from table,
are you satisfied with my style of living? You see how we shall fare every day,
if you fix your quarters here. Then with respect to liberty, you shall do just
as you please in this hermitage. All I require of you is to accompany me
whenever I go begging to the neighbouring villages; you will be of use in
driving an ass laden with two panniers, which the charitable peasants usually
fill with eggs, bread, meat, and fish, I ask no more thanthat. I will do, said
I, whatever you desire, provided you will not oblige me to learn Latin, Friar
Chrysostom, for that was the old hermit’s name, could not help smiling at my
school-boy frowardness, and assured me once more that he should not pretend
to interfere either with my studies or my inclinations.
On the very next day we went on a foraging party with the donkey, which I
led by the halter. We made a profitable gleaning ; for all the farmers took a
leasure in throwing somewhat into our panniers. One chucked in an uncut
loaf, another a large piece of bacon ; here a goose, there a pair of giblets, and
a partridge to crown the whole. But without entering further into particulars,
we carried home provender enough for a week ; and hence you may infer the
esteem and friendship in which the country people held the holy man. It is
true that he was a great blessing to the neighbourhood : his advice was always
at their service when they came to consult him: he restored peace where dis-
cord had reigned in families, and made up matches for the daughters ; he had
a nostrum for almost any disease you could mention, with an assortment of pious
rituals, to avert the curse of barrenness,
Hence you perceive that I was in no danger of starving in my hermitage.
My lodging, too, was none of the worst : stretched on good fresh straw, with a
cushion of ratteen under my head, and a coverlet over me of the same stuff. I
made but one nap of it all night. Brother Chrysostom, who had promised me
a hermit’s dress, made up an old gown of his own for me, and called me little
brother Scipio. No sooner did I appear in my religious uniform, than the ass’s
back suffered for my genteel appearance in the eyes of the villagers. It was
who should give most to the little brother! so much were they delighted with
his spruce figure.
The easy, slothful life I led with the old hermit could not be very revolting
to a boy of my age. On the contrary, it suited my taste so exactly, that I should
have continued it to this time, but that the fates and destinies were weaving a
more complicated tissue for my future — It was cast in the figure of my
nativity, early to rouse myself from the effeminacy of a religious life, and to
take leave of brother Chrysostom after the following manner.
I often observed the old man at work upon his pillow, unsewing and sewing
it up again; and one day, I saw him put in some money. This circumstance
excited a tingling curiosity, which I promised myself to satisfy the first time he
went to Toledo, as he generally did once a week. I waited impatiently for the
day, but as yet, without any other motive than the mere desire of prying. At
last the good man went his way, and I unpicked his pillow, where I found,
among the stuffing, the amount of about fifty crowns in all sorts of coin.
This treasure must have accumulated from the gratitude of the peasantry,
whom the hermit had cured by his nostrums, and of their wives, who had be-
come pregnant by virtue of his spiritual interference. But however it got there,
I no sooner set my eyes on the money, which might be mine without any one
near me to say nay, than the gipsy voice of nature and pedigree spoke within
SCIPIOS STORY. 369
me. An inextinguishable itch of pilfering tingled in my veins, and proved that
we come into the world with the mark of our descent, and with our characters
about us. I yielded to the temptation without a struggle; tied up my booty in
a canvas bag where we kept our combs and night-caps: then, having laid aside
the hermit’s and resumed my foundling’s dress, got clear off from the hermitage,
and hugged my bag as though it had contained the boundless treasure of the
Indies.
You have heard my first exploit, continued Scipio; and I doubt not but you
will expect a succession of similar practices. Your anticipations will not be
disappointed ; for there are many such evidences of genius behind, before I
come to those of my actions which prove me good as well as clever; but I
shall come to them, and you will be convinced by the sequel, that a scoundrel
born may be licked into virtue, as the cub of a bear into shape.
Child as [ was, I knew better than to take the Toledo road; it would have
been exposing myself to the hazard of meeting friar Chrysostom, who would
have balanced accounts with me on a very thriftless principle. I therefore tra-
velled in another direction leading to the village of Galves, where I stopped at
an inn, kept by a landlady who was a widow of forty, and hung out the bunch
of grapes to a very good purpose. This good woman no sooner kenned me,
than, judging by my dress that I must be a truant from the orphan school, she
asked who I was and whither I was going, I answered that, having lost my
father and mother, I was looking for a place. Can you read, my dear? said
she. lI assured her that I could read, and write too, with the best of them.
In point of fact, I could just form my letters, and join them so as to look a
little like writing; and that was clerkship enough for a village pothouse. Then
I will take you into my service, replied the hostess. You may earn your board
easily enough, by scoring up the customers, and keeping my ledger. I shall
give you no wages, because this inn is frequented by very genteel company,
who never forget the waiters. You may reckon upon very considerable
perquisites.
I clenched the bargain, reserving to myself, as you may suppose, the right of
emigration whenever my abode at Galves should cease to be pleasant. No
sooner was I settled in my place, than a weight lay heavy on my mind. I did
not wish it to be known that I had money; and it was no easy matter to devise
where it could be hidden, so as that what was sauce for the goose should not
be sauce for the gander. I was not yet well enough acquainted with the house
to trust the places obviously most proper for such a deposit. What a source of
embarrassment is great wealth! I determined, however, on a corner of our
granary under some straw; and believing it to be safer there than anywhere
else, made myself as easy about it as I well could.
The household consisted of three servants: a lubberly ostler, a young Gali-
cian chambermaid, and myself. Each of us spunged what we could upon tra-
vellers, whether on foot or on horseback. I always came in for some small
change, when the bill was paid. Then the equestrians gave something to the
ostler, for taking care of their beasts: but as for our female fellow-servant, the
muleteers who passed that way chucked her under the chin, and gave her more
crowns than we got farthings. I had no sooner realized a penny, than away it
went to the granary, and slept with its precursors; so that the higher rose my
heap, the more greedy did my little heart become. Sometimes would I kiss
the hallowed images of my idolatry, and look at them with a devotional glow,
which few worshippers feel, but those whose religion is their gold.
This inordinate passion sent me back and fore to gratify it, at least thirty
times a day. I often met the landlady on the staircase. She, being naturally
of a suspicious temper, had a mind to find out one day what could carry me
368 GIL BLAS.
every minute to the corn-loft. She therefore went up and began rummaging
about everywhere, supposing perhaps that it was my receptacle for articles pur-
loined in the house. Of course she did not forget to pull the straw about ; and
behold, there was my bag! Two hands in a dish and onein a purse, was not one
of her proverbs ; so that finding the contents in crowns and pistoles, she thought,
or seemed to think, that the money was lawfully and honestly hers. At least
she had possession, and that is nine points of the law, though scarcely one of
honesty. But to do the thing decently, after calling me little wretch, little ras-
cal, and so forth, she ordered the ostler, a fellow without any will but hers, to
give me a hearty flogging ; and then turn me out of doors, with this salt eel for
my breakfast, and a lady-like oath that no light-fingered gentry should ever
darken her doors. In vain did I protest and vow that I never wronged my
mistress: she affirmed the direct contrary, and her word would go further than
mine at any time. Thus were friar Chrysostom’s savings transferred from one
thief to a greater thief in the thief-taker.
I wept over the loss of my money, as a father over the death of his only
son: and though my tears could not bring back what I had lost, they at least
answered the purpose of exciting pity in some people, who saw how bitterly
they flowed, and among others in the parson, who was accidentally going by.
He seemed affected by my sad plight, and took me home with him. ‘There, to
gain my confidence, or rather to pump me, he began soothing my sorrows.
How much this poor child is to be pitied! saidhe. Is it any wonder if, thrown
upon the wide world at so tender an age, he has committed a bad action?
Grown up men are not always proof 0, erga the flesh or the devil. Then,
addressing me, Child, added he, from what part of Spain do you come, and
who are your parents? You have the look of family about you. Open your heart
to me confidentially, and depend upon it, I never will desert you,
His reverence, by this kind and insinuating language, engaged me by degrees
to tell him all my history, without falsification or reserve. I owned everything;
and thus he moralized on the leading article of my confession: My little friend,
though hermits ought to lay up such treasures as neither force nor fraud can
wrest from them, that was no excuse for your taking the measure of punishment
into your own hands: by robbing brother Chrysostom, you nevertheless sinned
against that article of the decalogue, which tells you not to steal; but I will
engage to make the hostess return the money, and will punctually remit it
to the reverend friar at his hermitage: you may therefore make your consci-
ence perfectly easy on that score. Now, between ourselves, my conscience was
perfectly callous to everything like compunction with respect to the crime in
question. The parson, who had his own ends to answer, had not done with
me yet. My lad, pursued he, I mean to take you by the hand, and find a good
berth for you. I shall send you to-morrow morning, by the carrier, to my
nephew, a canon of Toledo. He will not refuse, at my request, to admit you
upon his establishment, where they live likeso many sons of the church, rosily,
merrily, and fatly, upon the rents of his prebendal stall: you will be perfectly
comfortable there, take my word for it.
Patronage like this gave me so much encouragement, that I did not throw
away another thought either upon my bag or my whipping. My mind was
wholly occupied with the idea of living rosily, merrily, and fatly, like a son of
the church, The following day, at breakfast-time, there came, according to
orders, a muleteer to the parsonage, with two mules saddled and bridled. They
helped me to mount one, the muleteer flung his leg over the other, and we
trotted on for Toledo. My fellow-traveller was a good, pleasant companion,
and desired nothing better than to indulge his humour at the expense of his
neighbour, My little volunteer, said he, you have a good friend in his reverence,
SCIPIO'S STORY. 369
the minister of Galves. He could not give you a better proof of his kindness,
than by placing you with his nephew the canon, whom I have the honour of
knowing, far beyond all question or comparison, to be the cock of the chapter,
and a hearty one he is. None of your lantern-jawed saints, with Lent in his
face, a cat-of-nine-tails on his back, and a cholera morbus in his belly. No
such thing! Our doctor is rubicund in the jowl, efflorescent on the nose, with
a wicked eye at a bumper or a girl ; militant against no earthly pleasure, but
most addicted to the good things of the table. You will be as snug there as a
bug in a blanket.
This hangman of a muleteer, perceiving with what exquisite satisfaction I
took in all this, went on tantalizing me with the joys of an ecclesiastical life.
He never dropped the subject till we got to the village of Obisa, and stopped
there to refresh our mules. Then, while bustling about the inn, he accidentally
dropped a paper from his pocket, which I was cunning enough to pick up with-
out his seeing me, and took an opportunity of reading while he was in the sta-
ble. It was a letter addressed to the governors and superintendents of the
orphan school, conceived in these terms: ‘* Gentlemen, I consider it as an act
at once of charity and of duty, to send you back a little truant; he seems a
shrewd lad enough, and may do very well with good looking after. By dint of
hard and frequent chastisement, I doubt not but you will ultimately bring him
to a sense of his own unworthiness and your benevolence. May a blessing be
vouchsafed on your pious and charitable labours, for the early extirpation of
sin and wickedness! (Signed) ‘¢ THE MINISTER OF GALVES.”
When I had finished reading this pleasant letter, which let me into the good
intentions of his reverence the rector, it required little deliberation to determine
what I was to do: from the inn to the banks of the Tagus, a space of three good
miles, was but a hop, step, and jump. Fear lent me wings to escape from the
governors of the foundling hospital, whither I was absolutely resolved never to
return, having formed principles of taste diametrically opposite to their method
of teaching the classics. I went into Toledo with as light a heart as if I had
known where to get my daily bread. To be sure, it isa town of ways and
means, where a man who can live by his wits need never die of hunger.
Scarcely had I reached the high street, when a well-dressed gentleman by whom
I brushed, caught me by the arm, saying: My little fellow, do you want a
place? You are just such a smart lad as I was looking for. And you are just
the master for my money, answered I. Since that is the case, rejoined he, you
are mine from this moment, and have only to follow me, which I did without
asking any more questions.
This spark, about the age of thirty, and bearing the name of Don Abel,
lodged in very handsome ready-furnished apartments. He was by profession a
blacklegs ; and the following was the nature of our engagement. In the morn-
ing I got him as much tobacco as would smoke five or six pipes ; brushed his
clothes, and ran for a barber to shave him and trim his whiskers ; after which
he made the circle of the tennis-courts, whence he never returned home till
eleven or twelve at night. But every morning, at going out, he gave me three
reals for the expenses of the day, leaving me master of my own time till ten
o’clock in the evening ; and provided I was within-doors by his return, all was
well. He gave me a livery besides, in which I looked like a little lackey of
illicit love. I took very kindly to my condition, and certainly could not have
met with any more congenial with my temper.
Such and so happy had been my way of life for nearly a month, when my
employer inquired whether I liked his service; and on my answer in the
affirmative, Well, then, resumed he, to-morrow we shall set out for Seville,
whither my concerns call me. You wail not be sorry to see the capital of An.
370 GIL BLAS.
dalusia. ‘* He that hath not Seville seen,” says the proverb, ‘‘Is no traveller
I ween.” I engaged at once to follow him all over the world. On that very
day, the Seville carrier fetched away a large trunk with my master’s wardrobe,
and on the next morning we were on the road for Andalusia.
Signor Don Abel was so lucky at play, that he never lost but when it was
convenient ; but then it was seldom convenient to stay long in a place, because
those who are always losers find out at last, that though chance is a dangerous
antagonist, certainly it is a desperate one ; and that accounted for our journey.
On our arrival at Seville, we took lodgings near the Cordova gate, and resumed
the same mode of life as at Toledo. But my master found some difference be-
tween the two towns. The Seville tennis-courts could produce players equally
in fortune’s good graces with himself ; so that he sometimes came home a
deal out of humour. One morning, when he was biting the bridle for the loss
of a hundred pistoles the day before, he asked why I had not carried his linen
to the laundress. I pleaded forgetfulness. Thereupon, flying into a passion,
he gave me half-a-dozen boxes on the ear, in such a style, as to kindle an illu-
mination in my blinking eyes, to which the glories of Solomon’s temple were
no more to be compared, than the torches in a Candlemas procession to a rush-
light. There is for you, you little scoundrel! said he; take that, and learn to
mind your business. Must I be eternally at your heels to remind you of what
you are todo? Are your brains in your belly, and all your wits in your grind-
ers? You are not a downright idiot! Then why not prevent my wants and
anticipate my orders? After this experimental lecture, he went out for the day,
leaving me in high dudgeon, at a reprimand so much in the manner of my friend
the ostler, for such a trifle as not getting up his things for the wash.
I could never learn what happened to him a short time after at a tennis-court ;
but one evening he came home ina terrible heat. Scipio, said he, I am bent
on going to Italy, and must embark the day after to-morrow on beard a vessel
bound for Genoa, I have my reasons for making this little excursion ; of course
you will be glad to attend me, and to profit by so fine an opportunity of seeing
the loveliest country on the face of the earth. My tongue gave consent ; but
with a salvo in my heart and a bargain with ‘my revenge, to give him the sli
just at the moment of embarkation. This was so delightful a scheme, that
could not help imparting it to a bully by profession, whom I met in the street.
During my abode in Seville, I had picked up some awkward acquaintance, and
this was one of the most ungainly. I told him how and why my ears had been
boxed, and then communicated my project of running away from Don Abel just
before the ship was to sail, begging to know what he thought of the plan.
My bluff adviser puckered his eyebrows while he listened, and fiddled with
his fingers about his whiskers: then, blaming my master very seriously, My
little hero, said he, you are eternally disgraced, can never shew your face again,
if you sit down quietly with so paltry a satisfaction as what you propose. To
let Don Abel go off by himself, would be a poor revenge for wrongs like yours ;
the punishment should be proportioned to his crime. Let us fine him to the full
amount of his purse and effects, which we will share like brothers after he is
gone. Nowit isto be noted, that though thieving fell in very naturally with the
bent of my genius, the proposal rather startled me, as the robbery was upon a
large scale for so young an apprentice.
And yet the arch deceiver of my innocence found the means of working me
up to the perpetration, so that the result of our enterprise was as follows.
glorious ruffian, a tall, brawny fellow, came in the evening about twilight to our
lodging. Ishewed my master’s travelling trunk ready packed, and asked him
whether he could carry so heavy a load upon his shoulders. So heavy as that!
said he ; shew me where a transfer of property is to be made in my favour, and
SCIPIO'S STORY. 391
I could run with Noah’s ark to the top of mount Ararat. To prove his words,
he felt the trunk, flung it carelessly over his back, and scampered down-stairs.
I followed nimbly ; and we had just got to the street door, when Don Abel,
brought home in the nick of time by the ascendancy of his lucky stars, stood
like an apparition, to appal our guilty souls.
Whither are you going with that trunk? said he. I was sotaken by surprise
that my assurance failed me ; and broad-shoulders, finding that he had drawn
a blank in the lottery, threw down his booty, and took to his heels, rather than
be troubled for an explanation. Once more, whither are you going with that
trunk? said my master. Sir, answered I, with all the honest simplicity of a
criminal, pleading in arrest of judgment, I was going to put it on board the
vessel, that we might have the less to do to-morrow, before we embark our-
selves. Indeed! Then you know, retorted he, in what ship I have taken my
passage? No, sir, replied I! but those who can talk Latin may always find
their way to Rome: I should have inquired at the port, and somebody would
have informed me. At this explanation, which left his opinion where it found
it, he darted a furious glance at me. I thought for all the world, he was going
to cuff me again about the head. Who ordered you, cried he, to take my
trunk out of this house? You, your own self, said I. Can you possibly have
forgotten how you rated me but a few days ago? Did you not tell me, with a
flea in my ear, that you would have me prevent your wants, and do beforehand
from my own head whatever your service might require? Now, not to be
threshed a second time for want of forethought, I was seeing your trunk safe and
soon enough on board. On this the gamester, finding that I had cut my teeth
of wisdom sooner than suited his purpose, turned me off very coolly, saying :
Go about your business, master Scipio, and speed as you may deserve. I do
not like to play with folks who are in the habit of revoking. Get out of my
sight, or I shall set your so/feggio in a crying key.
I spared him the trouble of telling me to go twice. Off I shot like an arrow,
for fear he should unfledge me, by taking away my livery. When distant
enough to slacken my pace, I walked along in the streets, musing whither I
might betake myself for a night’s lodging, with only two reals in my pocket.
The gate of the archbishop’s palace at length stared me in the face; and, as
his grace’s supper was then dressing, a savoury odour exhaled from the kitchens,
impregnating the gale with soup and sauce fora mile round. Ods haricots and
cutlets ! thought I, it would be no hard matter for me to dispense with one of
those little side dishes, which will be of no use to the archbishop but to make
out the figure of his table : nay, I would be contented only just to dip in my four
fingers and thumb, and then to sup like a bear upon suckings. But how to
accomplish it! Is there no way of bringing these choice morsels to a better
test than that of smell? And why not? Hunger, they say, will break through
stone walls, On this idea did I set my wits to work ; and, by dint of conning
over the subject, a stratagem struck me, which set my lungs as well as appetite
in motion, just as the old carpenter kept bawling, ‘‘I have found it,” like a
madman, when he had hit the right nail of his proposition on the head. Iran
into the court of the palace, and made the best of my way to the kitchens, call-
ing ont with all my might, ‘* Help! help!” as if some assassin had been at my
eels.
At my reiterated cries master Diego, the archbishop’s cook, ran with three
or four kitchen drudges to learn what was the matter ; and seeing only me,
asked why I roared so loud. Ah! good sir, answered I, with every token of
exquisite distress, for mercy’s sake and for St Polycarp’s! save me, I beseech
you, from the fury of a blusterer, who swears he will kill me. But where is
this disturber of the public peace? cried Diego. You have no one to quarrel
342 GIL BLAS.
with but yourself ; for I do not see so much as a cat to spit at you. Go your
ways, my little man, and do not be afraid ; it is evidently some wag who has
been playing upon your cowardice for his diversion ; but he knew better than
to follow you within these walls, for we would have cut his ears off at the least.
No, no, said I, it was for no laughing matter that heranafterme. He isa noted
footpad, and meant to rob me; I am certain that he is now waiting for me at
the corner of the street. Then he may wait long enough, replied the knight of
the iron spit ; for you shall stay here till to-morrow. You shall sup with us,
and we will give you a bed.
I was out of my little wits with joy at the mention of these last tidings ; and
it was like the turnpike road to paradise after crossing an Arabian desert, when
being led by master Diego through the kitchens, I there saw my lord archbishop’s
supper, and the stew-pans in the last throes of parturition. There were fifteen
accountable souls, for I reckoned them up, in attendance on the labour ; but
the litter of dishes far out-numbered the fecundity of nature in her most prolific
mood : so much more gracious and bountiful is providence to the heads of the
church in the indulgence of their appetites, than mindful of the worthless brute
creation in the propagation of its kind. Here it was, at the fountain-head or
prelacy, inhaling an atmosphere of gravy, instead of just snuffing the scent as it
lay upon the breeze, that I first shook hands with sensuality. I had the honour
of supping with the scullions, and of sleeping in their room ; an initiation of
frien hip so sincere and strong, that on the following day, when I went to
thank master Diego for his goodness in vouchsafing me a refuge, he said : Our
kitchen lads have been with me in a body, to declare how excessively delighted
they are with your manners, and to propose having you among them as a
fellow-servant. How should you, on your part, like to make one of the society?
I answered that, with such a feather in my cap, I should be the vainest and the
happiest of mortals. Then so be it, my friend, replied he; consider yourself
henceforth as a buttress of the hierarchy. With this invitation, he introduced
me to the major-domo, who thought he saw talent enough in me for a turnspit.
No sooner was I in possession of so honourable an office, than master Diego,
following the practice of cooks in great houses, who pamper up their pretty
dears in private with all sorts of good things, selected me to supply a lady in the
neighbourhood with a regular table of butcher’s meat, poultry, and game. This
good friend of his was a widow on the right side of thirty, very pretty, very
lively, and to all appearance contenting herself with cupboard love for her
cook. His generous passion was not confined to furnishing her with bread,
meat, and garnish ; she drank her wine too, and the archbishop was her wine-
merchant,
The improvement of my parts kept pace with that of my carnal condition in
his grace’s palace : where I gavea specimen of rising genius, still ringmg on the
trump of fame at Seville. The pages and some others of the household had a
mind to get up a play on my lord archbishop’s birthday. They chose a
popular Spanish tragedy ; and wanting a boy about my age to personate the
young King of Leon, cast me for the part. ‘The major-domo, a great spouter,
undertook to train me for the stage ; and after a few pena pronounced that I
should not be the worst actor ofthe company. His grace not wishing to starve
so handsome a compliment to himself, no expense was spared in getting it “p
magnificently. The largest hall in the palace was fitted up as a theatre, wit
appropriate decorations. At the side scene there was a bed of turf, on which I
was to be discovered asleep, when the Moors were to rush in and take me
risoner. When we had got so forward with our rehearsals as to be sure of
eing ready by the time fixed, the archbishop sent out cards of invitation to all
the principal families in the city.
sim Pe ee
SCIPIOS STORY. 373
At length the great, the important day arrived; and each performer was big
with the contrivance and adjustment of his dress. Mine was brought by a
tailor, accompanied by our major-domo, who, after taking the trouble of drilling
me at rehearsal, wished to see justice done to my outward appearance. The
tailor put me on a rich robe of blue velvet, with hanging sleeves, gold lace,
fringe, and buttons: the major-domo himself crowned me with a pasteboard
crown, studded with false diamonds and real pearls. Moreover, they gave me a
sash of pink silk worked in silver; so that every new ornament was like a quill-
feather in the wing of a bird. At last, about dusk, the play began. The cur-
tain drew up for my soliloquy; the purport of which was to express, in a round-
about, poetical way, that not being able to defend myself from the influence of
sleep, I was going to lie down and take it as it came. To suit the action to the
word, I sidled off to the corner between the flat and the wings, and squatted
down on my bed of turf, but instead of going to sleep, according to promise, I
was hammering upon the means of getting into the street, and running away with
my coronation finery. A little private staircase, leading under the theatre into
the lower saloon, seemed to furnish the probability of success. I slid away
slily, while the audience were considering some necessary question of the play,
and ran down the staircase, through the saloon, to the door, calling out, ‘‘Make
way! make way! I must change my dress, and run up again in a moment !”
They all made a lane, for fear of hindering me; so that in less than two minutes
I got clear out of the palace, under cover of the darkness, and scampered to the
house of my friend who saw gentlemen’s trunks safe on board.
He stared like a stuck pig at my equipment! But when I let him into the
why and the wherefore, he laughed ready to split his sides. Then, shaking
hands in the sincerity of his heart, because he flattered himself with the hope of
a pension on the King of Leon’s civil list, he wished me joy of so successful a
first appearance, and joined issue with the major-domo in the prognostic, that
with encouragement and practice I should turn out a first-rate actor, and make
no little noise in the world. After we had diverted ourselves for some time at
the expense of my manager and audience, I said to the bully—What shall we
do with this magnificent dress? Do not make yourself uneasy about that, an-
swered he, I know an honest broker, without an atom of curiosity in his com-
position, who will buy or sell anything with any person, provided that he gets
the turn of the market upon the transaction. I will fetch him to you to-morrow
morning. ‘The knowing fellow was as good as his word; for he went out early
the next day, leaving me in bed, and returned two hours afterwards with the
broker, carrying a yellow bundle under his arm. My friend, said he, give me
leave to introduce Signor Ybagnez of Segovia, who, in spite of the bad example
set him by the trade in general, trusts to fair dealing and small profits fora
moderate pittance and an unblemished character. He will tell you to a fraction
what the dress you want to part with is really worth, and you may take his
calculation as the balance of justice, between. man and man. Oh yes! toa
nicety, said the broker. Else wherefore live I in a Christian land, but to ap-
praise for my neighbour as for myself? To take a mean advantage never was,
thank heaven! and at these years never shall be, imputed to Ybagnez of Segovia.
Let us look a little at those articles! You are the seller; Iam the buyer! We
have only to agree upon an equitable price. Here they are, said the bully,
pulling them out : now own the truth, was there ever anything more magnifi-
cent? You do not often see such velvet: and then the trimming! You cannot say
too much of it, answered the salesman, examining the suit with the prying eye
of a dealer, it is of the very first quality. And what think you of the pearls
upon this crown? resumed my friend. A little rounder, observed Ybagnez, and
there would be no setting a price upon them! however, take them as they are,
374 GIL BLAS.
it is a very fine set, and I do not want to find fault about trifles. Now your
common run of appraisers, under rd circumstances, would affect to disparage
the goods for the sake of getting them cheaper; one of those fellows would
have the conscience to offer twenty pistoles ; but there is nothing like bargain-
ing with an upright, downright man! I will give forty ata word; take them
or leave them !
Had Ybagnez ventured up to a hundred, he would not have burned his
fingers ; for the pearls alone would have fetched two hundred anywhere. The
bully, who went snacks, then said—Now only look! what a mercy it is, to fall
into the hands of a man not of this world. Signor Ybagnez estimates money
as dross, in comparison of his principles and his soul. He may die to-night,
and yet not be taken unprepared! That is too much! ou make me
blush, said the salesman of principle and soul ; but so far is true, that my price
is always fixed. Well, now, is it a bargain? The money down upon the nail
too! Stop amoment! answered the bully ; my little friend must first try on
the clothes you have brought for him by my order: I am very much mistaken
if they will not just fithim. The salesman then, untying his bundle, shewed
me a second-hand suit of dark cloth with silver buttons. I got up, and got into
it ; too big for me every way! but these gentlemen could have sworn it had
been made to my measure. Ybagnez put it at ten pistoles; and as he was an
upright, downright man, of fixed principle and soul, estimating money as dross
in comparison of integrity, his first price was of course his last. He therefore
took out his purse, and counted down thirty pistoles upon a table; after which
he packed up the King of Leon’s regalia, and went his way.
When he was gone, the bully said—I am very well satisfied with that broker.
And so he well might be ; for I am certain he must have received at least a
hundred pistoles as hush-money. But there was no reason why the broker’s
benevolence should pay the debts of my gratitude: so he took half the money
on the table, without saying with your leave or by your leave, and suffered me
to pocket the remainder, with the following advice: My dear Scipio, with that
balance of fifteen pistoles, I would have you get out of this town as fast as you
can ; for you may suppose that my lord archbishop will ferret you out if you
are above-ground. It would grieve me to the heart if, after having risen so
superior to the prejudice of honesty, you had the weakness to fall foul of what
alone keeps it afloat, the house of correction. I answered that it was my fixed
purpose to make myself scarce at Seville, and accordingly, after buying a hat
and some shirts, I travelled through vineyards and olive groves to the ancient
city of Carmona; and in three days afterwards arrived at Cordova.
I put up at an inn close by the market-place, giving myself out for the heir
of a good family at Toledo, travelling for his pleasure. My appearance did not
belie the story, and a few pistoles, which I contrived carelessly to chink within
the landlord’s hearing, pinned his faith upon my veracity. Probably my un-
fledged youth might lead him to take me for some graceless little truant who
had robbed his parents and runaway. But that was no concern of his: he
took the thing just as I gave it him, for fear lest his curiosity should clash
with my continuance at his house. For six reals a day one could live likea
gentleman at this inn, where there was generally a considerable concourse of
company. About a dozen people sat down at supper. It was whimsical enough ;
but the whole party plied their knives and forks without speaking a word, ex-
cept one man, who talked incessantly, right or wrong, and made up for the
silence of the rest by his eternal babble. He affected to be a wit, to tell a good
story, and took great pains to make the good folks merry by his puns; and
2 a they did laugh most inextinguishably ; but it was at him, not with
im,
SCIPIO'S STORY. 375
For my part, I paid so little attention to the talk of this rattle, that I should
have got up from table without knowing what it was all about, if he had not
beousiit it home to my business and my bosom. Gentlemen, cried he, just as
supper was over, I have kept my best story for the last ; a very droll thing
happened within these few days at the archbishop of Seville’s palace. Ihad ©
it from a young fellow of my acquaintance, who assures me that he was present
at the time. ‘These words made my heart jump up into my throat, for I had
no doubt of this being my exploit—and so it turned out. This pleasant gentle-
man related the facts as they actually happened, and even carried the adventure
to its conclusion, of which I was as yet ignorant: but now you shall be made
as wise as myself.
No sooner had-I absconded, than the Moors, who were, according to the
progress of the fable and the rising of the interest, to lay violent hands on me,
appeared upon the stage, for the fell purpose of surprising me on my bed of
turf, where the author had given them reason to expect me fast asleep; but when
they thought they were just going to capot the King of Leon, they found, to
their surprise, that both the king and the knave made a trick against them.
Here was a hole inthe ballad! The actors all lost their cue; some of them
called me by name, others ran to look for me; here is a fellow bawling as
though his bellows would burst, there stands another, muttering to himself
about the devil, just as if that reptile could stand upright in such a presence!
The archbishop, perceiving trouble and confusion to lord it behind the scenes,
asked what was the matter. At the sound of the prelate’s voice, a page,who
was the fiddle of the piece, came to the front and spoke thus: My lord arch-
bishop, ladies, and gentlemen! We are extremely sorry to inform you, as
players, but extremely glad, as men and Christians, that the King of Leon is at
present in no danger whatever of being taken prisoner by the Moors: he has
adopted effectual measures for the security of his royal person; and to the royal
person, as liberty avails little without property, he has irrevocably attached the
crown, insignia, and robes. Anda happy deliverance for himself and Chris-
tendom! exclaimed the archbishop. He has done perfectly right to escape
from the enemies of our religion, and to burst from the bonds in which their
malice would have laid him. By this time, probably, he has reached the con-
fines of his kingdom, or may have entered the capital. May no unlucky acci-
dent have retarded him on his journey! And that the sin of none such may lie
heavy on my conscience, I beg leave very positively to make my pleasure known,
that he may proceed unmolested by any interruption from this quarter; I should
be highly mortified indeed, if his majesty’s pious endeavours were to be frustrated
by the slightest indignity from the ministers of that religion in whose cause he
labours and suffers. The prelate, having thus declared his acquiescence in the
motives of my flight, ordered my part to be read, and the play to be resumed.
Cu. XI.—Continuation of Scipio's story.
As long as I had money in my purse, my landlord was cap in hand ; but the
moment he began to suspect that the funds were low, he became high and
mighty, picked a German quarrel with me, and one morning, before breakfast,
begged it as a favour of me to march out of his house. I followed his counsel
as proudly as you please, and betook me to a church belonging to the fathers
of St Dominic, where, while mass was performing, an old beggar accosted me
on the usual topic of alms. I dropped some small change into his hat, which
was truly the orphan’s mite, saying at the same time : My friend, remember in
your prayers to mention a situation for me; if your petition is heard with
favour, it shall be all the better foryou ; hearty thanks, anda handsome poundage !
376 : GIL BLAS.
At these words, the beggar surveyed me up and down from head to foot,
and answered in a grave tone: What place would you wish to have? I should
like, replied I, to be footman in some family where I should do well. He in-
uired whether the matter pressed. With all possible importunity, said I,
or unless I have the good luck to get settled very soon, the alternative will
be horrible ; death by the gripe of absolute famine, or a livelihood in the ranks
of your fraternity. If the latter were, after all, to be your lot, resumed he, it
certainly would be rather hard upon you, who have not been brought up to our
habits of life ; but, with a little use and practice, you would prefer our condi-
tion to service, which, partiality apart, is far less respectable dons the beggar’s
vocation. Nevertheless, since you like a menial occupation better than
leading a free and independent life like me, you shall have a berth without more
ado. Mean as my appearance, is, you must not measure my power by it.
Meet me here at the same hour to-morrow.
I took care to keep the appointment. Though at the spot before the time, I
had not long to wait before the beggar joined me, and told me to follow him.
I did so. He led me toa cellar not far from the church where he resided.
We went in together ; and sitting down on a long bench, at least a hundred
years the worse for wear, the conversation took this turn on his part : A good
action, as the proverb says, always meets with its reward : you gave me alms
yesterday, and that has determined me to get you a place, which shall be soon
done, with a blessing on my endeavours. I know an old Dominican, by name
Father Alexis, a holy monk, a ghostly confessor. I have the honour to do all
his little odd jobs, performing my task with so much discretion and good faith,
that he always lends his interest to me and my friends. I have spoken to him
about you, and in such terms as to prepossess him in your favour, You may
be introduced to his reverence whenever you please.
There is not a moment to be lost, said I to the old beggar ; let us go to the
good monk immediately. The mendicant agreed, and led me by the arm to Father
Alexis, whom we found in his room, hard at work, writing spiritual letters. He
broke off to talk with me. As it was the wish of the mendicant, he would do
all in his power to serveme. Having learnt, pursued he, that Signor Balthasar
Velasquez is in want of a footboy, I wrote to him this morning on your behalf,
and he just sent me for answer, that he would take you without further inquiry
on my recommendation. This very day you may call on him from me; he is
one of my flock, and my very good friend. ‘Thereupon the monk preached to
me for three quarters of an hour on my moral and religious duties, and how to
fulfil them in conscience and honour. He enlarged principally on the obligation
of serving Velasquez with diligence and devotion ; and then assured me that he
would take care and keep me in my place, provided my master had no very
material fault to find with me.
After having thanked the holy person for his goodness towards me, I left the
convent with the beggar, who told me that Signor Balthasar Velasquez was an
old woollen-draper, but with much simplicity and good nature in his character.
I doubt not, added he, but you will be perfectly comfortable in his house. I
begged to know his place of residence, and repaired thither immediately, after
promising to make my gratitude manifest, as soon as I had taken root in my
new soil. I went into a large shop, where two fashionable young apprentices
were walking up and down, practising new grimaces against the entrance of the
next customer. I inquired whether their master was at home, saying that I
wanted to speak with him from Father Alexis. At that venerable name they
shewed me into the counting-house, where their principal was turning over the
ledger. I made alow bow, and coming up to him, Sir, said I, Father Alexis
ordered me to call here and offer myself as a servant toyour honour, Ah! my
SCIPIO'S STORY. 377
smart lad, answered he, you are heartily welcome. It is enough that the holy
man sent you ; and I shall take you in preference to three or four others who
have been recommended. It is a clear case; your wages begin from this day.
A very short time in the family convinced me that the head of it was just such
a man as hehad been described. In point of simplicity, he was everything that
could be wished ; so exquisite a subject for imposition, that it seemed next to an
impossibility not to exercise my craft upon such a handle. He had beena
widower four years, and had two children, a son five-and-twenty, and a daughter
in her eleventh year. The girl, brought up by a severe duenna, under the spi-
ritual conduct of Father Alexis, walked in the high road of virtue ; but her
brother, Gaspard Velasquez, though no pains had been spared to make a good
man of him, picked out for himself all the vices of a young profligate. Some-
times he stayed away from home two or three days together ; and if, on his re-
turn, his father ventured to remonstrate in the least against his proceedings,
Gaspard shut his mouth at once, with a haughty toss of the head, and an im-
pertinent answer.
Scipio, said the old man one day, my son is the plague of my life. He is
over head and ears in all kinds of debauchery : and yet there is no accounting
for it, since his education was by no means neglected. I have given him the
very best masters ; and my friend Father Alexis has done his utmost to train
him up in the way he should go ; but there was no breaking him in ; Master Gas-
pard ran restive, and bolted into downright libertinism. You may perhaps tell
me, that I spared the rod and spoiled the child. Quite otherwise ! he was
punished whenever the occasion seemed to demand it ; for, though good-tem-
ered at bottom, I am not to be played upon. I have even gone so far as to
ock him up, but that only made him more headstrong than before. In short,
he is one of those impracticable beings, on whom good example, good advice,
and a good horsewhip, are equally thrown away. If ever he makes any figure
in the world, it must be by a miracle from heaven.
Though my heart was not grievously wrung by the ‘sorrows of this unhappy
father, sympathy was expected from me, and I condoled with him accordingly.
How much to be pitied you are, sir! said I. Virtues like yours deserved to
have been handed down in your progeny. ‘The event is quite the reverse, my
good lad, answered he. Heaven heard my prayer, and gave me a son, but con-
verted the blessing into an affliction. Among other grounds of complaint
against Gaspard, I may tell you in confidence, there is one which gives me a
great deal of uneasiness ; a vast longing to rob his old father, which he too often
finds the means of satisfying, in spite of all my caution. Your predecessor
played into his hands, and was turned away in consequence. As for you, I
flatter myself that my son will uever be able to tamper with your honesty. You
will take my side of the question ; for doubtless Father Alexis has given you
your lesson on that head. You may rest assured of that, said I; for a good
long hour did his reverence lecture me on doing your will and pleasure without
let or hindrance ; but I can assure you, there was no need of his saying any-
thing about the matter. I feel within myself a sort of call to serve you faithfully,
and I promise to do it with a zeal beyond all the temptations of the world to
shake or lessen.
He who only hears one side is in danger of deciding partially. Young Ve-
lasquez, a mixture of the fribble and the braggart, concluding from the cut of
my countenance that I was made up of mortal frailty like my dear predecessor,
drew me aside to a snug corner, and there talked to me after this fashion. Now
mind what is said to you, my dear fellow ; you may think I do not know that
you are set as a spy upon me by my father; but take especial care how
you proceed, for I can assure you most sincerely, that the office is not without
378 GIL BLAS.
very considerable inconvenience to those who undertake it. If ever I find
that you tell tales out of school, I will give you such a basting as you never had
in your life ; but if you will make common cause with me, and a fool of my
father, you may buy golden returns of gratitude from your humble servant.
Do you wish me to deal with you upon the nail? You shall go snacks in all
that we can squeeze out of the old fellow. You have only to take your choice:
fall at once into the ranks either of father or son ; for neutrals will come worst
off, where the contending parties fight for their existence.
Sir, answered I, you make the shoe pinch very tight ; it is self-evident that
there is nothing for me to do but to enlist under your banners, though in my
conscience it seems like a crying sin to betray Signor Velasquez. ‘That is no
concern of yours, rejoined Gaspard ; he is an old hunks, who wants to keep me
under his thumb ; a curmudgeon who refuses me the rights of nature, in refus-
ing to stand to the expenses and repairs of my pleasures ; for pleasures are the
necessaries of life at five-and-twenty. It is in this point of view that you must
form your opinion of my father. If that is the case, so be it, sir, said I ; there
is no standing against so just a subject of complaint. Iam quite at your serv-
ice to play second fiddle in all your laudable enterprises ; but let us take espe-
cial care to conceal our good understanding, for fear your faithful, nae oe
servant should be kicked out of doors. It will not be amiss, in my poor
opinion, for you to affect an extreme antipathy against me : some good round of
abuse would have a very pretty effect ; you need not benice ; all the blackguard
terms in the dictionary will come at your call. Nay, a box on the ear now and
then, or a kick on the breech, will break no squares ; on the contrary, the more
you express your thorough dislike, the more Signor Balthasar will pin his faith
upon my sleeve. My cue will be, apparently to avoid speaking to you if pos-
sible. In waiting at table, I shall perform my little attentions to you at arm’s
length ; and whenever your honour may happen to be called over the coals by
the shopmen, you must not take it amiss if I abuse you worse than a pick-
pocket.
As plain as chalk from cheese! cried young Velasquez at this last hint ; this
is admirable, my friend ; at your early age, it is uncommon to meet with such
a talent for intrigue ; I consider it asa most happy omen for my purpose,
With such a performer to play up to me, I flatter myself the old codger will be
pinched to the bone and left penniless. You really carry your good opinion of
me beyond what my merit will justify, said I; some industry may fall to my
share, but not such exalted genius. But I shall do my utmost ; and if my hon-
est endeavours fail, your candour must find excuses for my imbecility.
It was not long before Gaspard had proof positive that I was to a hair’s
breadth the very man he wanted ; and the following was precisely the first trick
I played into his hand. Balthasar’s strong box was in the good man’s chamber,
by his bed-side, a sort of oratory, with a prayer-book always lying upon it.
Every time I looked that way, my eyes glistened with hope and pleasure ; my
heart chuckled over the very idea of what might happen: Fair, sweet, cruel
box, will you for ever be coy to my addresses? May I never experience the
heart-felt delight of possessing all your charms for better, for worse? As I
went into the room at pleasure, and only Gaspard was warned off the premises,
it happened one day that I watched his father. The old gentleman, fancyin
himself unobserved of human eye, after having — his treasury and ave
it fast again, hid the key behind the hangings. I took an accurate observation
of the place, and communicated the discovery to my young master, who said
with an improving hug: Ah! my dear Scipio, what glorious news you bring !
Our fortune is made, my dear fellow. I will furnish you with wax ; you shall
take the impression of the key, and then our business is done. There will be
SCIPIOS STORY. 379
no difficulty in finding a benevolent locksmith in Cordova, where, to do the
place justice, there are as many rogues as in any part of Spain.
Well! but why, said I to Gaspard, do you want a false key? We may find
our account in the proper one. Yes, answered he; but I am afraid lest my
father, through mistrust or whim, should take a fancy to hiding it elsewhere ;
and the safest way is, to have one of our own. I commended his precaution,
and falling in with all his principles, got ready for taking the impression of the
key : this was effected one morning early, while my old master was paying a
visit to Father Alexis, with whom he for the most part held very long confer-
ences. I did not stop here ; but availed myself of the key to open the strong
box, wherein an ample range of large and small bags threw me into the most
delightful perplexity imaginable. I did not know which to choose, there was
such a family likeness among them ; nevertheless, as the fear of being caught
did not allow of any long deliberation, I laid hands, hap-hazard, on the largest.
Then, locking the box carefully, and putting the key back again behind the
hangings, I got away out of the chamber with my booty, and hid it under my
bed, in a small closet where I lay.
Having performed this exploit so successfully, I ran back as fast as my legs
would carry mo to young Velasquez, who was waiting at a house where he had
given me notice to meet him, and his delight was extreme at the recital of what
I had just done. He was so fully satisfied with me, as to lavish caresses with-
out number, and to offer me thrice, in the fulness of his heart, half the contents
of the bag, which I did thrice refuse. No, no, sir, said I, this first bag is yours
and yours only ; apply it to your own uses and occasions. I shall return forth-
with to the strong box, where, as our lucky stars have contrived it, there is
money enough for both of us. Accordingly, three days afterwards I carried off
a second bag, containing, like the first, five hundred crowns, of which I would
only handle the fourth part, let Gaspard be as pressing as he pleased to force
upon me a brotherly division, share and share alike.
As soon as this young man found himself so flush of money, and consequently
in a condition to gratify his hankering after women and play, he gave himself
up entirely to the devices of his own imagination ; nay, his evil genius pursued
him so far, as to make him fall desperately in love with one of those female
harpies, who devour without remorse or intermission, and swallow up the
largest fortunes, His disbursements at her instigation were frightful ; and thus
it became necessary for me to pay so many visits to the strong box, that old
Velasquez at length found out he had been robbed. Scipio, said he one morn-
ing, I must give you a piece of information ; some one robs me, my friend ; my
strong box has been opened ; several bags have been taken out, that is a certain
fact. Whom ought I to accuse of this theft? or rather, who else but my son
can have committed it? Gaspard must have got by stealth into my chamber, or
else you yourself must have played booty with him ; for Iam tempted to believe
you are in league with him, though to outward appearance you do not set up
your horses together. And yet I am unwilling to harbour that suspicion, be-
cause Father Alexis undertook to answer for your honesty. I gave him to un-
derstand that, by the blessing of heaven on a good natural disposition, my
neighbours’ goods had no temptation in my sight ; and I so happily suited the
action to the lie, and the lie to the action, that my judge pronounced a verdict
of acquittal on the evidence of grimace and hypocrisy.
Accordingly the old man dropped the subject ; but for all that, there was a
general misgiving in his breast, and it would sometimes light upon me ; taking
precautions, therefore, against our further attacks, he had a new lock put to his
strong box, and always carried the key in his pocket. By these means, an
embargo being laid on our traffic with the bags, we leaked excessively foolish,
380 GIL BLAS.
especially Gaspard, who, being unable any longer to keep his nymph in her usual
style, knew very well that he was likely to be tossed out of her window. He
had, however, invention enough to devise an expedient for keeping his head
above water a few days longer, and that was neither more nor less than to get
into his clutches, in the form of a loan, my dividend on the joint stock of the
strong box. I refunded to the last farthing ; and this restitution, it is to be
hoped, may be set off as an anticipated act of justice to the old draper, in the
person of his heir.
The young man, having exhausted this scanty supply, and desperate of
any other, fell into a deep melancholy, and into ultimate derangement. He no
longer looked on his father in any other light than as the bane of his life.
His frenzy broke out into the most dreadful projects; so that, without listening
to the voice of consanguinity or nature, the wretch conceived the impious de-
sign of poisoning him. He was not content with making me privy to the
atrocious design, but even proposed to render me the instrument of parricide.
At the very thought, my blood ran cold within me. Sir, said I, is it possible
that you are so rejected of heaven as to have formed this horrid plot? What!
is it in your nature to murder the author of your existence? Shall Spain, the
favoured abode of the Christian faith, bear witness to the commission of a
crime, at the first blush of which transatlantic savages would recoil with horror?
No, my dear master, added I, throwing myself on my knees, no, you will not
be guilty of an action which would raise the hand of all mankind against you,
and be overtaken by an infamous punishment.
I pressed many arguments beside on Gaspard, to dissuade him from so fear-
ful an enterprise. How the deuce I came by all the moral and religious
topics, which I brought to act against the fortress of his despair, is more than
I can account for; but it is certain that I preached like a doctor of Salamanca,
though a mere stripling, born of a gipsy fortune-teller. And yet it was to no
purpose that I suggested the duty of communing with his own better resolu-
tions, and stoutly wrestling with the fiend, who was lying in wait for his im-
mortal soul; my pious eloquence was dissipated into air. His head hung
sullenly on his bosom, and his tongue uttered no sound, in answer to all my
mollifying exhortations, so that there was every reason to conclude he would
not swerve from his purpose.
Hereupon, taking my own measures, I requested a private interview with m
old master; and being closeted with him, Sir, said I, allow me to throw myself
at your feet, and to implore your pity. In pathetic accord with my moving
accents, I prostrated myself before him, with my face all bathed in tears. The
merchant, surprised at what he saw and heard, asked the cause of my distress.
Remorse of conscience and repentance, answered I; but neither repentance
nor remorse can ever wash out my guilt. I have been weak enough to give
ear to your son, and to be his accomplice in robbing you. To this confession
I added a sincere acknowledgment of all that had happened, with the par-
ticulars of my late conversation with Gaspard, whose design I laid open with-
out the least reserve.
Bad as was the opinion which old Velasquez entertained of his son, he could
scarcely believe his ears. Nevertheless, finding no good reason to distrust the
truth of my account, Scipio, said he, raising me from the ground, where I had
till now been prostrate at his feet, I forgive you in consideration of the im-
portant notice you have communicated. Gaspard! pursued he, raising his
voice up to the loudness of anguish, does Sp he aim a blow at my life! Ah!
ungrateful son, unnatural monster! better thou hadst never been born, or
stifled at thy birth, than to have been reared for the destruction of thy father !
What plea, what object, what palliation of the atrocious deed? I furnished
SCIPIOS STORY. 381
thee annually with a reasonable allowance for thy pleasures, and what wouldst
thou have more? Must I have drained my fortune to the dregs to support
thee in thy extravagance? Having vented his feelings in this bitter apostrophe,
he enjoined secresy on me, and told me to leave him alone, while he considered
how to act in so delicate a conjuncture.
I was very anxious to know what resolution this unhappy father would take,
when on that very day he sent for Gaspard, and addressed him thus without
betraying the inward emotions of his heart: My son, I have received a letter
from Merida, purporting that if you are disposed to marry, you may make a
match with a very fine girl of fifteen, with a handsome fortune in her pocket,
If you have not forsworn that happy and holy estate, we will set out to-morrow
morning by daybreak for Merida: you will see the lady in question, and if she
hits your fancy, the business may soon be settled. Gaspard, pricking up his
ears at a handsome fortune, and already fingering the cash by anticipation, an-
swered unhesitatingly that he was ready to undertake the journey; and accord-
ingly they departed the following day at sun-rise, without attendants, mounted
on good mules,
Having reached the mountains of Fesira, in a delightful spot for the opera-
tions of banditti, but terror-stirring to the timid souls of travellers, Balthasar
dismounted, and desired his son to do likewise. ‘The young man obeyed, but
expressed his surprise at such a requisition, in so lonely a place. I will tell
you the reason presently, answered the old man, darting at him a look of
mingled grief and anger: We are not going to Merida; and the alleged
courtship was only an invention of mine, for the purpose of drawing you
hither. I am not ignorant, ungrateful and unnatural son, I am not uninformed
of your meditated crime. I am aware that a poison, prepared by your hands,
was to have been administered to me; but, mad as you are, could it enter into
your contemplation that my life could have been invaded with impunity by such
means? How fatally mistaken! Your crime would soon have been detected,
and you would have perished under the hands of the executioner. There is a
safer way of glutting your fell malice, without exposing yourself to an ignomini-
ous death; we are here without witnesses, and in a place where daily murders
are perpetrated ; since you are so thirsty after my blood, plunge your dagger
into my bosom: the assassination will naturally be laid at the door of some
banditti. After these words, Balthasar, laying his breast bare, and pointing to
his heart, ended with this challenge: Here, Gaspard, strike deep enough,
strike home; make me pay that forfeit for having engendered such a disgrace
to human nature, and no more than what is due to so monstrous a pro-
duction.
Young Velasquez, struck by this reproach as by a thunderbolt, far from
pleading in his own justification, fell instantly lifeless at his father’s feet. The
good old man, hailing the germ of repentance in this unfeigned testimony of
shame, could not help yielding to paternal weakness; he made all possible
haste to give his assistance ; but Gaspard had no sooner recovered the use of his
senses, than unable to stand in the presence of a father so justly offended, he
made an effort to raise himself from the ground, then sprang upon his mule,
and galloped out of sight without saying one word. Balthasar suffered him to
take his own course, and returned to Cordova, little doubting but conscience
would play its part in revenging his wrongs. Six months afterwards it appear-
ed that the culprit had thrown himself into the Carthusian convent at Seville,
there to pass the remnant of his days in penance.
382 GIL BLAS.
Cu. XII.—Conclusion of Scipio's story.
Bap example sometimes produces the converse of itself. The behaviour of
young Velasquez made me think seriously on my own predicament, I
to wrestle with my thievish propensities, and to live like one of the better sort.
A confirmed habit of pouncing upon money wherever I could get it, had been
contracted by such a long succession of individual acts, that it was no easy matter
to say where it should stop. And yet I was in hopes to accomplish my own
reformation, under the idea that to become virtuous a man had nothing to do
but to contract the desire of being so. I therefore undertook this great work,
and heaven seemed to smile upon my efforts: I left off eyeing the old draper’s
strong box with the carnal regard of avaricious longing: nay, I verily believe,
that if it had depended on my own will and pleasure to have turned over the
contents to my own use, I should have abstained from the crime of picking and
stealing. It must, however, be admitted, that it would have been an unadvisable
measure to tempt my new-born integrity with meats too strong for its stomach;
and Velasquez was nurse enough to keep me on a proper diet.
Don Manriquez de Medrano, a young gentleman, knight of Alcantara, was in
the habit of coming backwards and forwards to our house. He was a customer,
one of our principal in point of rank, if not punctual in point of pay. I had the
happiness to find favour with this knight, who never met me without that sort
of notice which encouraged conversation, and with that conversation he ap-
peared always to be very much pleased. Scipio, said he, one day, if I hada
footman of your kidney, it would be as good as a fortune to me, and if you
were not in the service of a man who stands so high in my regards, I should
make no scruple about enticing you away. Sir, answered I, you would have
very little trouble in succeeding; for I am distractedly partial to people of
fashion; it is my weak side; their free and easy manners fascinate me to the
extreme of folly. That being the case, replied Don Manriquez, I will at once
beg Signor Balthasar to turn you over from his household to mine: he will
scarcely refuse me such a request. Accordingly Velasquez was kind and com-
plying, with so much the less violence to his own private feelings, as there
seemed no reason to think, that ifa man parted with one knavish servant, he
might not easily get another in his place. To me the change was all for the
better, since a tradesman’s service appeared but a beggarly condition in com-
parison with the office of own man to a knight of Alcantara,
To draw a faithful likeness of my new master, I must describe him as a gen-
tleman possessing every requisite of person, figure, manners, and disposition.
Nor was that all; for his courage and honour were equal to his other qualities :
the goods of fortune were the only good things he wanted, but being the
younger son of a family more distinguished by descent than opulence, he was
obliged to draw for his expenses on an old aunt living at Toledo, who loved
him as her own child, and administered to his occasions with affectionate liber-
ality. He was always well dressed, and everywhere well received. He visited
the principal ladies in the city, and among others the Marchioness of Almenara,
She was a widow of seventy-two, but the centre of attraction to all the fashion-
able society of Cordova, by the elegance of her manners and the sprightliness
of her conversation: men as well as women laid themselves out for an intro-
duction, because her parties conferred at once on the frequenters the patent of
good company.
My master was one of that lady’s most assiduous courtiers. After leaving
her one evening, his spirits seemed to be more elevated than was natural to him.
Sir, said I, you are evidently in a good deal of agitation; may your faithful
SCIPIOS STORY. 383
servant ask on what account? Has anything happened out of the common way?
The young gallant smiled at so home a question, and owned candidly that he had
just been engaged in a serious conversation with the Marchioness of Almenara.
will lay a wager, said I, laughing outright, that this moppet of threescore and
ten, this girl in her second childhood, has been unfolding to you all the secret
movements of a tender, susceptible heart. Do not make a jest of it, answered
he; for the fact is, my friend, that the Marchioness is seriously in love with me.
She told me that the narrowness of my circumstances was as well known to her
as the nobility of my birth; that she had taken a liking to me, and was de-
termined to place me at my ease by marriage, since she could not decently lay
her fortune at my feet on any other terms. That this marriage would expose
her to public ridicule, she professed to have considered; that scandal would
be busy at her expense; in short, that she should pass for an old fool with an
ambitious eye and a liquorish constitution. No matter for that! She was not
to be awed from the career of her humour by quips and sentences: her only
alarm was, lest I should either make sport of her intentions, or torment her
more grievously by my aversion.
Such, continued the knight, was the substance of the Marchioness’s declara-
tion, and I am the more astonished at it, because she is the most prudent and
sensible woman in Cordova; wherefore I answered by expressing my surprise
at her honouring me with the offer of her hand, since she had hitherto persisted
in her resolution of remaining in a state of widowhood. To this she replied,
that having a considerable fortune, it would give her pleasure to share it in her
life-time with a man of honour to whom she was attached. To all appearance
then, rejoined I, you have made up your mind to take a lover’s leap, Can you
doubt about that? answered he. The Marchioness is immensely rich, with
excellent qualities both of head and heart. It would be the extreme of folly
and fastidiousness to let so advantageous a settlement slip through my fingers.
I entirely approved my master’s purpose of profiting by so fine an opportu-
nity to make his fortune, and even advised him to bring the matter to a short
issue, for fear of a change in the wind. Happily the lady had the business more
at heart than myself; her orders were given so effectually, that the necessary
forms and ceremonies were soon got over. When it became known in Cor-
dova that the old Marchioness of Almenara was getting herself ready to be the
bride of young Don Manriquez de Medrano, the wits began breaking their odd
quirks and remnants in derision of the widow; but though she heard her own
detractions, she did not put them to mending; the town might talk as they
pleased ; for when she said she would die a widow, she did not think to live
till she were married. The wedding was solemnized with a publicity and
splendour which furnished fresh food for evil tongues. The bride, said they,
might at least have had the modesty to dispense with noise and ostentation, so
unbecoming in an old widow who marries a young husband.
The Marchioness, far enough from yielding to the suggestions of shame at her
own inconsistency, or the disparity of their ages, yielded herself up without
constraint to the expression of the most lively joy. She gave a grand concert
and supper, with a ball afterwards, and invited all the principal families in Cor-
dova. Just before the close of the ball, the new-married couple disappeared,
and were shewn to an apartment, where, with no other witnesses but her own
maid and myself, she spoke to my master in these terms:—Don Manriquez,
this is your apartment; mine is in another part of the house: we will pass the
night in separate rooms, and will live together by day like mother and son.
At first the knight did not know what to make of this; he thought that the
lady was only trying his temper, as if her coldness must be wooed to kindness,
and her love, like her pardon, not unsought, be won. Imagining, therefore,
384 GIL BLAS.
that good manners required, at least, the shew of passion, he made his advances,
and offered, according to the laws of amorous suit enacted in such cases, to
assist in the disencumbering duties of her toilet; but, so far from allowing him
to interfere with the province of her servant, she pushed him back with a seri-
ous air, saying: Hold, Don Manriquez; if you take me for one of those sweet-
toothed old women who marry a second time from mere incontinence, you do
me a manifest injustice: my proposals were not fraught with conditions of hard
service as the tenure of our nuptial contract ; the gift of my heart was unmixed
with sensual dross, and your gratitude is only drawn upon for returns of pure
and platonic friendship, After this explanation, she left my master and me in
our apartment, and withdrew to her own with her attendant, forbidding the
bridegroom, in the most positive manner, to attempt retiring with her.
After her departure, it was some time before we recovered from our surprise
at what we had just heard. Scipio, said my master, could you ever have be-
lieved that the Marchioness would have talked in such a strain? What think
you of so philosophic a bride? I think, sir, answered I, that she is a phenix
among the brood of Hymen, It is for all the world like a good living without
parochial duties. For my part, replied Don Manriquez, there is nothing so
much to my taste as a wife of modest pretensions; and I mean to make her
amends for the trophy she has raised to unadulterated esteem, by all the deli-
cate attentions in my power to pay. We kept up the subject of the lady’s
moderation till it was full time to separate. My quarters were fixed in an ante-
room with a book-case bedstead; my master’s in an elegant bed-chamber with
every appurtenance except one: but however nec it might be to play the
disappointed bridegroom, Iam much mistaken if in the bottom of his soul he
was half so much afraid of sleeping by himself as of being encumbered with a
bed-fellow.
The rejoicings began again on the following day, and the bride was so jocund
on the occasion, that the bolts of the fools among her visitors were not soon shot.
She was the first to laugh at all their pointless jokes; nay, she even set the little
wits to work, by giving them an example of pleasantry, which they were very little
able to follow. ‘The happy man, on his part, seemed to be very little less happy
than his partner; and one would have sworn, judging by the glance of satisfac-
tion which accompanied his language and deportment, that he liked mutton bet-
terthan lamb, This well-matched pair had a second conversation in the evening ;
and then it was decided that without interfering in the least with one another,
they should live together just on the same footing as they had lived before mar-
riage. Atall events, much credit must be given to Don Manriquez on one account:
he did, from delicate consideration towards his wife, what few husbands would
have done under his circumstances, for he discarded a little sempstress of whom
he was very fond, and who was very fond of him, because he did not choose to
keep up a connection insulting to the feelings of a lady so studious of his.
While he was furnishing such unusual testimonies of gratitude to his elderly
benefactress, she over paid and doubly paid her debt of obligation, even without
diving into its nature or extent. She gave him the master key of her strong
box, which was better provided than that of Velasquez. Though she had
reduced her establishment during widowhood, it was now replaced upon the
same footing as in the lifetime of her first husband; the pati yest of house-
hold servants was enlarged, the stud and equipages were in the very first style;
in a word, by her generosity and kindness, the most beggarly knight belonging
to the order of Alcantara became the most monied member of the fraternity.
You may perhaps be disposed to ask me, how much I was in pocket by all
that ; and my answer is, fifty pistoles from my mistress, and a hundred from my
master, who, moreover, appointed me his secretary, with a salary of four hun-
SCIPIOS STORY. 385
dred crowns ; nay, his confidence was so unbounded, that I was fixed on to fill
the office of treasurer.
Treasurer! cried I, interrupting Scipio at the very idea, and bursting into an
immoderate fit of laughter. Ves sir, replied -he, with a cool, unflinching seri-
ousness; you are perfectly right, treasurer was the word; and I may venture to
say that the duties of the office were executed without the slightest occasion for
a committee of inquiry. True it is that the balance may be somewhat against
me, for I was always in the habit of overdrawing my wages; and as the firm
was dissolved somewhat suddenly, it is by no means impossible that the balance
of my cash account might be on the wrong side: but, at all events, it was my
i slip; and since that time my ways have been ways of uprightness and
onesty.
Thus was I, continued this son of a gipsy, secretary and treasurer to Don
Manriquez, who, to all appearance, was as happy in me as I in him, when he
received a letter from Toledo, announcing that his aunt, Donna Theodora Mos-
coso, was on her last legs. He was so much affected by the news, as to set out
instantly and pay his duty to that lady, who had been more than a mother to
him for several years. I attended him on the journey with only two under-
servants ; we were all mounted on the best horses in the stable, and reached
Toledo without loss of time, where we found Donna Theodora in a state to
warrant our hopes that she would not, at present, weigh anchor on her outward
bound voyage ; and, in fact, our judgment on her case, though point blank in
contradiction to that of an old physician who attended her, proved by the event
that we knew at least as much of the matter as he did.
While the health of our venerable relative was improving from day to day,
less, perhaps, from the effect of the prescriptions than in consequence of her
dear nephew’s presence, your worthy friend the treasurer passed his time in the
pleasantest manner possible, with some young people whose acquaintance was
admirably calculated to ventilate the confined cash in his pocket. Sometimes
they enticed me to the tennis-court, and took me in for a game: on those oc-
casions, not being quite so steady a player as my master, Don Abel, I lost
much oftener than I won. By degrees play became a passion with me ; and if
the taste had been suffered to gain complete possession, it would doubtless have
laid me under the necessity of drawing bills of accommodation on the family
bank ; but happily love stepped in, and saved the credit both of the bank and
of my principles. One day, passing along near the church of the Epiphany,
I espied through a lattice with the drapery drawn up, a young girl who might
well be called a thing divine, for nothing natural was ever seen so lovely. I
would lay on my compliment still thicker, if words were not wanting to express
the effect of her first appearance upon my mind. I set my wits to work, and
by dint of diligent inquiry, learned that her name was Beatrice, and that she
was waiting-maid to Donna Julia, younger daughter of the Count de Polan.
Beatrice broke in upon the thread of Scipio’s story by laughing immoderate-
ly : then, directing her speech to my wife, Charming Antonia, said she, do but
just look at me, I beseech you, and then say truly, whether I could be likened
to a thing divine, You might at that time, tomy enamoured sight, said Scipio ;
and, since your conjugal faith is no longer under a cloud, my visual appetite
increases by what it feeds on. It was a pretty compliment! and my secretary,
having fired it off, pursued his narrative as follows.
This intelligence kindled the flame of passion within me ; but not, it must be
confessed, a flame which could be acknowledged without a blush. I took it
for granted that my triumph over her scruples would be easy if my biddings were
high enough to command the ordinary market of female chastity ; but Beatrice
was a pearl beyond price. In vain did solicit her, through the channel of
386 GIL BLAS.
some intriguing gossips, with the offer of my purse and of my most tender at-
tentions ; she rejected all my proposals with disdain, I had recourse to the
lover’s last remedy, and offered her my hand, which she deigned to accept on
the strength of my being secretary and treasurer to Don Manriquez. As it
seemed expedient to keep our marriage secret for some time, the ceremony was
performed privately, in presence of Dame Lorenza Sephora, Seraphina’s go-
verness, and before some others of the Count de Polan’s household. After our
happy union, Beatrice contrived the means of our meeting by day, and passing
some part of every night together in the garden, whither I repaired through a
little gate of which she gave me a key. Never were man and wife better pleas-
ed with each other than Beatrice and myself: with equal impatience did we
watch for the hour of our appointment ; with congenial emotions of eager sen-
sibility did we hasten to the spot, and the moments which we passed together,
though countless from their number in the calendar of cold indifference, to us
were few and fleeting, in comparison with that eternity of mutual bliss for which
we panted.
One night, a night which should be expunged from the almanac, a night of
darkness and despair, contrasted with the brightness of all our former nights, I
was surprised on approaching the garden, to find the little gate open. This
unusual circumstance alarmed me; for it seemed to augur something inauspi-
cious to my happiness : I turned pale and trembled, as if with a foreknowledge
of what was going to happen. Advancing in the dark towards a bower, where
our private meetings had usually taken place, I heard a man’s voice. I stopped
on the instant to listen, when the following words struck like the sound of death
upon my ear: Do not keep me languishing in suspense, my dear Beatrice ;
make my happiness complete, and consider that your own fortunes are closely
connected with mine. Instead of having patience to hear further, it seemed as
if more had been said than blood could expiate ; that devil, jealousy, took pos-
session of my soul ; I drew my sword, and breathing only vengeance, rushed
into the bower. Ah! base seducer, cried I, whoever you are, you shall tear
this heart from out my breast, rather than touch my honour on its tenderest
point. With these words on my lips, I attacked the gentleman who was talk-
ing with Beatrice. He stood upon his guard without more ado; like a man
much better acquainted with the science of arms than myself, who had only re-
ceived a few lessons from a fencing-master at Cordova. And yet, strong as his
sword-arm was, I made a thrust which he could not parry, or what is more
likely, his foot slipped : I saw him fall ; and fancying that I had wounded him
mortally, ran away as hard as my legs could carry me, without deigning to an-
swer Beatrice, who would have called me back.
Yes, indeed ! said Scipio’s wife, resolved to have her share in the develop-
ment of the story ; I called out for the purpose of undeceiving him. The gen-
tleman conversing with me in the arbour was Don Ferdinand de Leyva. ‘This
nobleman, who was in love with my mistress Julia, had laid a plan for running
away with her, from despair of being able to obtain her hand by any other
means ; and I had myself made this assignation with him in the garden, to
concert measures for the elopement, and with his fortune he assured me that my
own was closely linked ; but it was in vain that I screamed after my husband ;
he darted from me as if my very touch were contamination, é
In such a state of mind, resumed Scipio, I was capable of anything. Those
who know by experience what jealousy is, into what extravagance it drives the
best-regulated spirits, will be at no loss to conceive the disorder it must have
produced in my weak brain. I passed in a moment from one extreme to an-
other : emotions of hatred succeeded instantaneously to all my former sentiments
of affection for my wife. I took a: oath never to see her more, and to banish
SCIPIOS STORY. 387
her for ever from my memory. Besides, the supposed death of a man lay upon
my conscience ; and under that idea, I was afraid of falling into the hands of
justice ; so that every torment which could be accumulated on the head of guilt
and misery by the fury of despair and the demon of remorse, was the remediless
companion of my wretched flight. In this dreadful situation, thinking only of
my escape, I returned home no more, but immediately quitted Toledo, with no
other provision for my journey but the clothes on my back. It is true, I had
about sixty pistoles in my pocket ; a tolerable supply for a young man, whose
views in life pointed no higher than a good service. .
I walked forward all night, or rather ran, for the phantom of an alguazil al-
ways dogging me at the heels made me perform wonders of pedestrian activity.
The dawn overtook me between Rodillas and Maqueda. When I was at the
latter town, finding myself a little weary, I went into the church which was just
opened, and having put up a short prayer, sat down on a bench to rest. I be-
gan musing on the state of my affairs, which were sufficiently out at elbows to
require all my skill in patch-work, but the time for reflection as well as for re-
pentance were cut short. The church echoed on a sudden with three or four
smacks of a whip, which made me conclude that some carrier was on the road.
I immediately got up to goand see whether I was right or wrong, At the door
I found a man, mounted on a mule, leading two others by the halter. Stop,
my friend, said I, whither are those two mules going? To Madrid, answered
he. I came hither with two good Dominicans, and am now setting out on my
return,
Such an opportunity of going to Madrid gave me an itching desire for the
expedition: I made my bargain with the muleteer, jumped upon one of his
mules, and away we scampered towards Illescas, where we were to put up for
the night. Scarcely were we out of Maqueda before the muleteer, a man
from five-and-thirty to forty, began chanting the church service with a most
collegiate twang. This trial of his lungs began with matins, in the drowsy
tone of a canon between asleep and awake; then he roared out the Belief,
alternately in contralto, tenor, and bass, in all the harmonious confusion of
high mass; and not content with that, he rang the bell for vespers, without
sparing me a single petition or so much as a bar of the magnificat. Though
the scoundrel almost cracked the drum of my ear, I could not help laughing
heartily; and even egged him on to make the welkin reverberate with his
hallelujahs, when the anthem was suspended a few rests, for the necessary
purpose of supplying wind to the organ. Courage, my friend! said I; go on
and prosper. If heaven has given you a good capacious throat, you are neither
a niggard nor a perverter of its precious boon. Oh! certainly not for the
matter of that, cried he; happily for my immortal soul, I am not like carriers
in general, who sing nothing but profane songs about love or drinking: I do
not even defile my lips with ballads on our wars against the Moors: such sub-
jects are at least light and unedifying, if not licentious and impure. You have,
replied I, an evangelical purity of heart which belongs only to the elect among
muleteers. With this excessive squeamishness of yours about the choice of
your music, have you also taken a vow of continence, wherever there is a
young bar-maid to be picked up at an inn? Assuredly, rejoined he, chastity
is also a virtue by which it is my pride to ward off the temptations of the road,
where my only business is to look after my mules. I was in no small degree
astonished at such pious sentiments from this prodigy of psalm-singing mule-
drivers ; so that looking upon him as a man above the vanities and corruptions
of this nether world, I fell into chat with him after he had gone the length of
his tether in singing.
We got to Illescas late in the day. | On entering the inn-yard, I left the
388 GIL BLAS.
care of the mules to my companion, and went into the kitchen, where I
ordered the landlord to get us a good supper, which he promised to perform
so much to my satisfaction, as to make me remember all the days of my life
what usage travellers meet with at his house. As, added he, now only ask
our carrier what sort of a man I am. By all the powers of seasoning! I
would defy the best cook in Madrid or Toledo to an olio at all to be
compared to mine. I shall treat you this evening with some stewed rabbit
after a receipt of my own; you will then see whether it is any boast to say that
I know how to send up a supper. Thereupon, shewing mea stewpan with a
young rabbit, as he said, cut up into pieces: There, continued he, is what I
mean to favour you with. When I shall have thrown in a little pepper, some
salt, wine, a handful of sweet herbs, and a few other ingredients which I keep
for my own sauces, you may depend on sitting down to such a dish as would
not disgrace the table of a chancellor or an archbishop.
The landlord, having thus done justice to his own merits, began to work
upon the materials he had prepared. While he was labouring in his vocation,
I went into a room, where lying down on a sort of couch, [ fell fast asleep
through fatigue, having taken no rest the night before. In the space of about
two hours, the muleteer came and awakened me, with the information that
supper was ready, and a pressing request to take my place at table. The cloth
was laid for two, and we sat down to the hashed rabbit. I played my knife
and fork most manfully, finding the flavour delicious, whether from the force of
hunger in communicating a candid mode of interpretation to my palate, or
from the natural effect of the ingredients compounded by the cook. A joint
of roast mutton was next served up. It was remarkable that the carrier only
paid his respects to this last article; and I asked him why he had not taken his
share of the other. He answered with a suppressed smile, that he was not
fond of made dishes. ‘This reason, or rather the turn of countenance with
which it was alleged, seemed to imply more than was expressed. You have
not told me, said I, the real meaning of your not eating the fricassee: do have
the goodness to explain it at once. Since you are so curious to be made
acquainted with it, replied he, I must own that I have an insuperable aversion
to cramming my stomach with meats in masquerade, since one-evening at an
inn on the road between Toledo and Cuenga, they served me up, instead of a
wild rabbit, a hash of tame cat; enough, of all conscience, ever after to set my
intestines in battle-array against all minces, stews, and force-meats,
No sooner had the muleteer let me into this secret, than in spite of the
hunger which raged within me, my appetite left me completely in the lurch, I
conceived, in all the horrors of extreme loathing, that I had been eating a cat
dressed up as the double of a rabbit; and the fricassee had no longer any
power over my senses, except by producing a strong inclination to retch, My
companion did not lessen my tendency that way, by telling me that the inn-
keepers in Spain, as well as the pastry-cooks, were very much in the habit of
making that substitution. The drift of the conversation was, as you may perceive,
very much in the nature of a lenitive to my stomach; so much so, that I had no
mind to meddle any more with the dish of undefinables, nor even to make an
attack upon the roast meat, for fear the mutton should have performed its duty
by deputy as well as the rabbit. I jumped up from table, cursing the cookery,
the cook, and the whole establishment; then, throwing myself down upon the
sofa, I passed the night with less nausea than might reasonably have been ex-
pected. The day following with the dawn, after having paid the reckoning
with as princely an air as if we had been treated like princes, away went I from
Illescas, bearing my faculties so strongly impregnated with fricassee, that I took
every animal which crossed the road, of whatever species or dimensions, for a cat,
SCIPIO'S STORY. 389
We got to Madrid betimes, where I had no sooner settled with my carrier
than I hired a ready-furnished lodging near the Sun-gate. My eyes, though
accustomed to the great world, were nevertheless dazzled by the concourse of
nobility which was ordinarily seen in the quarter of the court. I admired the
prodigious number of carriages, and the countless list of gentlemen, pages, gentle-
men’s gentlemen, and plain, downright footmen in the train of the grandees.
My admiration exceeded all bounds, on going to the king’s levee, and behold-
ing the monarch in the midst of his court. The effect of the scene was en-
chanting, and I said to myself, It is no wonder they should say that one must
see the court of Madrid to form an adequate idea of its magnificence: I am
delighted to have directed my course hither, and feel a sort of prescience within
me that I shall not come away without taking fortune by surprise. I caught
nothing napping, however, but my own prudence, in making some thriftless,
ensive acquaintance. My money oozed away in the rapid thaw of my pro-
priety and better judgment, so that it became a measure of expedient degrada-
tion to throw away my transcendant merit on a pedagogue of Salamanca, whom
some family lawsuit or other concern had brought to Madrid, where he was
born, and where chance, more whimsical than wise, thrust me within the
horizon of his knowledge. I became his right hand, his prime principal
agent; and dogged him at the heels to the university when he returned
thither.
My new employer went by the name of Don Ignacio de Ipigna. He furn-
ished himself with the handle of don, inasmuch as he had been tutor to a
nobleman of the first rank, who aad recompensed his early services with an
annuity for life: he likewise derived a snug little salary from his professorship
in the university; and in addition to all this, laid the public under a yearly
contribution of two or three hundred pistoles for books of uninstructive morality,
which he protruded from the press periodically by weight and measure. The
manner in which he worked up the shreds and patches of his composition de-
serves a notice somewhat more than cursory. The heavy hours of the forenoon
were spent in muzzing over Hebrew, Greek, and Latin authors, and in writing
down upon little squares of card every pithy sentence or striking thought
which occurred in the morning’s reading. According to the progress of this
literary Pam, in winning tricks from the ancients, he employed me to score up
his honours in the form of an Apollo’s wreath: these metaphysical garlands
were strung upon wire, and each garland made a pocket volume. What an
execrable hash of wholesome viands did we cook up! The commandments
set at loggerheads with an utter confusion of tables; Epicurean conclusions
grafted on stoical premises! Tully quoting Epictetus, and Seneca supporting
his antitheses on the authority of monkish rhyme! Scarcely a month elapsed
without our putting forth at least two volumes, so that the press was kept con-
tinually groaning under the weight of our transgressions. What seemed most
extraordinary of all, was that these literary larcenies were palmed upon the
purchasers for spick and span new wares, and if, by any strange and impro-
bable chance, a thick-headed critic should stumble with his noddle smack
against some palpable plagiarism, the author would plead guilty to the indict-
ment, and make a merit of serving up at second-hand
What Gellius or Stobzeus hash’d before,
Though chewed by blind old scholiasts o’er and o’er.
He was also a great commentator; and filled his notes chuck full of so much
erudition, as to multiply whole pages of discussion upon what homely com
mon-sense would have consigned to the brief alternative of a query:
390 GIL BLAS.
Disputes of Me or Te, or Aut at At,
To sound or sink in cano O or A,
Or give up Cicero to C or K,
As almost every author, ethical and didactic, from Hesiod down to himself,
took his turn to dangle on some one or other of our manuscript garlands, it
was impossible for me not to suck in somewhat of sage nurture from so copious
a stream of philosophy: it would be rank ingratitude to shift off my obligation.
My hand-writing also became strictly and decidedly legible, by dint of con-
tinual transcription ; my estate was more that of a pupil than of a servant, and
my morals were not neglected, while my mind was polished, and my faculties
raised above their former level. Scipio, he used to say, when he chanced to
hear of any serving lad with more cunning than honesty in his dealings, beware,
my good boy, how you take after the evil example of that graceless villain.
‘* The honour of a servant is his fidelity; his highest virtues are submission and
obedience. Be studious of thy master’s interests, be diligent in his affairs, and
faithful to the trust which he reposeth in thee. Thy time and thy labour belong
unto him. Defraud him not thereof, for he payeth thee for them.” ‘To sum
up all, Don Ignacio lost no opportunity of leading me on in the path of virtue,
and his prudent counsels sank so deep into my heart, as to keep under any-
thing like even the slightest wish of playing him a rogue’s trick during the
fifteen months which I spent in his service.
I have already mentioned that Doctor de [pigna was a native of Madrid.
He had a relation there, by name Catalina, waiting-maid to the lady who of-
ficiated as nurse to the heir-apparent. This abigail, the same through whose
intervention I got Signor de Santillane released from the tower of Segovia, in-
tent on rendering a service to Don Ignacio, prevailed with her mistress to pe-
tition the Duke of Lerma for some preferment. The minister named him for
the archdeaconry of Grenada, which, as a conquered country, is in the king’s
gift. We repaired immediately to Madrid on receiving the intelligence, as the
doctor wished to thank his patronesses before he took possession of his benefice.
I had more than one opportunity of seeing Catalina, and conversing with her.
The cheerful turn of my temper and a certain easy air of good company were
altogether to her taste; for my part, I found her so much to my liking, that I
could not help saying yes to the little advances of partiality which she made in
my favour: in short, we got to feel very kindly towards each other. You must
not write a comment with your nails, mydear Beatrice, on this episode in the
romance of my amours, because I was firmly persuaded of your inconstancy,
and you will allow that heresy, though impious, being also blind, my penance
may reasonably be remitted on sincere conversion.
In the mean time Doctor Ignacio was making ready to set out for Grenada.
His relation and myself, out of our wits at the impending separation, had re-
course to an expedient which rescued us from its horrors: I shammed illness,
complained of my head, complained of my chest, and made a characteristic wry
face for every pain and ache in the catalogue of human infirmities. My master
called in a physician, who told me with a grave face, after putting his questions
in the usual course, that my complaint was of a much more serious nature than
might appear to unprofessional observation, and that, according to all present
likelihood, I should keep my chamber a long time. The doctor, impatient to
take possession of his preferment, did not think it quite so well to delay his de-
parture, but chose rather to hire another boy; he therefore contented himself
with handing me over to the care of a nurse, with whom he left a sum of money
to bury me if I should die, or to remunerate me for my services if I should re-
cover.
SCIPIO’'S STORY. 391
As soon as I knew Don Ignacio to be safe on the road for Grenada, I was
cured of all my maladies. I got up, made my final bow to the physician who
had evinced so thorough a knowledge of my case, and fairly turned my nurse
out of doors, who made her retreat good with baggage and ammunition, to the
amount of more than half the sum for which she ought to have accounted with
me. While I was enacting the sick man, Catalina was playing another part
about the person of her mistress, Donna Anna de Guévra, into whose concep-
tion having by dint of many a wordy process inserted the notion, that I was the
man of all others ready cut and dry for an intrigue, she induced her to choose
me for one of her agents. The royal and most catholic nurse, whose genius for
great undertakings was either produced or exasperated by the love of great
possessions, having occasion for suitable ministers, received me among her
hangers-on, and lost no opportunity of ascertaining how far I was for her purpose.
She confided some commissions to my care, which, vanity apart, called for no
little address, and what they called for was ready at hand: accordingly, she
gave me all apie credit for the diligent execution of my office, while my dis-
content swelled high against her for fobbing me off with the cold recompense of
approbation. The good lady was so abominably avaricious, as not to give me
a working partner’s share in the profits of my industry, nor to allow for the
wear and tear of my conscience. She seemed inclined to consider, that by
paying me my wages, all the requisitions of Christian charity were made good
between us. ‘This excess of illiberal economy would soon have parted us, had
it not been for the fascination of Catalina’s gentle virtues, who became more
desperately in love with me from day to day, and completed the paroxysm by a
formal proposal of marriage.
Fair and softly, my pretty friend, said I: we must look before we leap into
that bottomless gulf: the first point to be settled is to ascertain the death of a
young woman, who obtained the refusal before you, and made me supremely
happy, for no other purpose but to anticipate the purgatory of an intermediate
state in the present. All a mere sham, a put off! answered Catalina: you
swear you are married only by way of throwing a genteel veil over your abhor-
rence of my person and manners. In vain did I call all the powers to witness,
that what I said was solemnly true: my sincere avowal was considered as a
mere copy of my countenance; the lady was grievously offended, and changed
her whole behaviour in regard to me. There was no downright quarrel; but
our tender intercourse became visibly more rigid and unaccommodating, so that
nothing further took place between us but cold formality and common-place
attentions,
Just at the nick of time, I heard that Signor Gil Blas de Santillane, secretary
to the prime minister of the Spanish monarchy, wanted a servant ; and the situa-
tion was the more flattering, as it bore the bell among all the vacancies of the
court register office. Signor de Santillane, they told me, was one of the first
men, high in favour with the Duke of Lerma, and consequently in the direct
road to fortune: his heart, too, was cast in the mould of generosity: by doing
his business, you most assuredly did your own. The opportunity was too good
to be neglected : I went and offered myself to Signor Gil Blas, to whom I felt
my heart grow from the first; for my sentiments were fixed by the turn of his
physiognomy. There could be no question about leaving the royal and most
catholic nurse for him ; and it is to be hoped, I shall never have any other master.
Here ended Scipio’s story. But he continued speaking, and addressed him-'
selfto me. Signor de Santillane, do me the favour to assure those ladies that
you have always known me for a faithful and zealous servant. Your testimony
in das me in good stead, and vouch for a sincere reformation in the son of
oselina,
392 GIL BLAS.
Yes, ladies, said I, it is even so. Though Scipio in his childhood was avery
scape-grace, he has been born anew, and is now the exact model of a trusty
domestic. Far from having any complaints to make against him, my debt is
infinite. On the fatal night when I was carried off to the tower of Segovia, he
saved my effects from pillage, and refunded what he might have taken to him-
self with impunity: not contented with rescuing my worldly pelf, he came out
of pure friendship and shut himself up with me in my prison, preferring the
melancholy sympathies of adverse fortune to all the charms of ee buoyant
liberty.
BOOK THE ELEVENTH.
Cu. I.—Containing the subject of the greatest joy that Gil Blas ever felt, followed
up, as our greatest pleasures too generally are, by the most melancholy event of
, his life. Great changes at court, producing, among other important revolutions,
the return of Santillane.
I HAVE observed already that Antonia and Beatrice understood one another
perfectly well; the latter falling meekly and modestly into the trammels of an
humble attendant on her lady, and the former taking very kindly to the rank of
a mistress and superior. Scipio and myself were husbands too rich in nature’s
gifis and in the affections of our spouses, not very soon to have the satisfaction
of becoming fathers: our lasses were as women wish to be who love their lords,
almost at the same moment. Beatrice’s time was up first: she was safely de-
livered of a daughter; and in a few days afterwards Antonia completed the
general joy, by presenting me with a son, I sent my secretary to Valencia with
the welcome tidings: the governor came to Lirias with Seraphina and the Mar-
chioness de Pliego, to be present at the baptismal ceremony; for he made it his
pleasure to add this testimony of affection to all his former kindnesses. As
that nobleman stood godfather, and the Marchioness godmother to my son, he
was named Alphonso ; and the governor’s lady, wishing to draw the bonds of
sponsorship still closer in this friendly party, stood for Scipio’s daughter, to
whom we gave the name of Seraphina.
The rejoicings at the birth of my son were not confined to the mansion-house;
the villagers of Lirias celebrated the event by festivities, which were meant as a
grateful token, to prove how much the little neighbourhood partook in all the
satisfactions of their landlord. But, alas! our carousals were of short continu-
ance; or, to speak more suitably to the subject, they were turned into weeping,
wailing, and lamentation, by a catastrophe which more than twenty years have
not been sufficient to blot from my memory, nor will future time, however dis-
tant, make me think of it but with the bitterest retrospect. Myson died ; and
his mother, though perfectly recovered from her confinement, very soon followed
him: a violent fever carried off my dear wife, after we had been married four-
teen months. Let the reader conceive, if he is equal to the task, the grief with
which I was overwhelmed: I fell into a stupid insensibility; and felt my loss
so severely, as to seem not to feel it atall. JI remained in this condition for five
or six days, in an obstinate determination to take no nourishment; and I verily
believe that, had it not been for Scipio, I should either have starved myself, or
my heart would have burst ; but my secretary, well knowing how to accom-
modate himself to the turnings and windings of the human heart, contrived to
cheat my sorrows by falling in with their tone and tenor: he was artful enough
GIL BLAS OVERWHELMED WITH AFFLICTION. 393
to reconcile me to the duty of taking food, by serving up soups and lighter fare
with so disconsolate an arrangement of features that it looked as if he urged me
to the revolting employment, not so much to preserve my life, as to perpetuate
and render immortal my affliction.
This affectionate servant wrote to Don Alphonso, to let him know of the
misfortune which had happened to me, and my lamentable condition in con-
sequence. That tender-hearted and compassionate nobleman, that generous
friend, very soon repaired to Lirias. I cannot recall the moment when he first
presented himself to my view without even now being sensibly affected. My
dear Santillane, said he, embracing me, I am not come to offer you impertinent
consolation ; but to weep over Antonia with you, as you would have wept with
me over Seraphina, had the hand of death snatched her from me. In good
truth, his tears bore testimony to his sincerity, and his sighs were blended with
mine in the most friendly sympathy. Though overwhelmed with my affliction,
I felt in the most lively manner the kindness of Don Alphonso,
The governor had a long conversation with Scipio respecting the measures to
be taken for overcoming my despair. They judged it best to remove me for
some time from Lirias, where every object incessantly brought back to my mind
the image of Antonia. On this account the son of Don Cesar proposed carry-
ing me back with him to Valencia ; and my secretary seconded the plan with
so many unanswerable arguments, that I made no further opposition. I left
Scipio and his wife on my estate, where my longer stay could have produced no
other effect but that of aggravating and enhancing all my sorrows, and took my
own departure with the governor. On my arrival at Valencia, Don Cesar and
his daughter-in-law spared no exertions to divert my sorrows from perpetual
brooding ; they plied me alternately with every sort of amusement, the most
proper to turn the current of my thoughts to passing objects ; but, in spite of
all their pains, I remained plunged in melancholy, whence they were incom-
petent to drawme out. Nor was it for want of Scipio’s kind attentions that
my peace of mind was still so hopeless : he was continually going back and fore
between Lirias and Valencia to inquire after me ; and his journey home was
cheerful or gloomy, in proportion as he found more or less disposition in me to
peer to the words of comfort, and to reward the affectionate solicitude of my
riends.
He came one morning into my room. Sir, said he, with a great deal of
agitation in his manner, a report is current about town, in which the whole
monarchy is deeply interested : it is said that Philip the Third has departed
this life, and that the prince, his son, is actually seated on the throne. To this
it is added, that the cardinal Duke of Lerma has lost the premiership, that he is
even forbidden to appear at court, and that Don Gaspard de Guzman, Count
of Olivarez, is actually at the head of the administration. I felt a little agitated
by this sudden change, without knowing why. Scipio caught at this manifest-
ation, and asked whether the veering of the wind in the political horizon might
not blow me some good. How is that possible? What good can it blow me,
et worthy friend? answered I. The court and I have shaken hands once for
all: the revolutions which may take place there are all alike indifferent to me.
For a man at your time of life, replied that cunning son of a diviner, you are
uncommonly mortified to all the uses of this world. Under your circumstances
my curiosity would be all alive ; I should go to Madrid and show my face to
the young monarch, just to see whether he would recollect it, merely for the
amusement of the thing. I understand you, said I ; you would have me return
to court and try my fortune again, or rather you would plunge me back into the
gulf of avarice and ambition. Why should such baleful passions any more take
possession of your breast? rejoined Scipio. Do not so much play the calum-
394 GIL BLAS.
niator on your own virtue. I will answer for your firmness to yourself.
The sound moral reflections which your disgrace has occasioned you to make on
the vanities of a court life, are a sufficient security against all the dangers to be
feared from that quarter. Embark boldly once again upon an ocean where you
are acquainted with every shoal and rock in the dangerous navigation, Hold
your tongue, you flatterer, said I, with a smile of no very positive discourage-
ment ; are you weary of seeing me lead a retired and tranquil life? I thought
my repose had been more dear to you.
Just at this period of our conversation, Don Czsar and his son came in.
They confirmed the news of the king’s death, as well as the Duke of Lerma’s
misfortune. It appeared, moreover, that this minister, having requested per-
mission to retire to Rome, had not been able to obtain it, but was ordered to
confine himself to his marquisate at Denia. On this, as if they had been in
league with my secretary, they advised me to go to Madrid and offer my con-
gratulations to the new king, as one of his former acquaintances, with the merit
of having rendered him even such services, as the great are apt to reward more
willingly than some which are performed with cleaner hands. For my part,
said Don Alphonso, I have no doubt but they will be liberally acknowledged :
Philip the Fourth is bound in honour to pay the Prince of Spain’s debts. I
consider the affair just in the same light as you do, said Don Cesar ; and San-
tillane’s visit to court will doubtless prove the occasion of his arriving at the
very first employments.
In good truth, my noble friends, exclaimed I, you do not consider what you
are talking about. It should seem, were one to give ear to the soothing words
of you both, as if I had nothing to do but to shew my face at Madrid, and re-
ceive the key of office, or some foreign government for my pains ; but you are
egregiously mistaken. I am, on the contrary, well persuaded that the king
would pass me over as a stranger, were I to throw myself in his way. I will
make the experiment if you wish it, merely for the sake of undeceiving you.
The lords of Leyva took me at my word, so that I could not help promising
them to set out without loss of time for Madrid. No sooner did my secretary
perceive my mind fully made up to the prosecution of this journey, than his
ecstacies were wound up to the highest pitch: he was satisfied within himself -
that if I did but present my excellent person before the new monarch, he would »
immediately single me out from the crowd of political candidates, and weigh
me down under a load of dignities and emoluments. On the strength of these
conjectures, puffing himself out and amusing his fancy with the most splendid
extravagances of device, he raised me up to the first offices of the state, and
pushed forward his own preferment in the path of my exaltation.
I therefore made my arrangements for returning to court, without the most
distant intention of again bicaifichae at the shrine of fortune, but merely to con-
vince Don Cesar and his son of their error, in imagining that I was at all likely
to ingratiate myself with the sovereign. It is true that there was some little
lurking vanity at the bottom of all my philosophy, sprouting up in the shape of
a desire to ascertain whether my royal master would throw away a thought on
me, now in the spring time of his new and blushing honours. Led out of that
course solely by that tempter, curiosity, without a dream of hope, or any prac-
tical contrivance for turning the new reign to my own individual advantage, I
set out for Madrid with Scipio, consigning the management of my household to
Beatrice, who was well skilled in all the arts of domestic economy.
GIL BLAS PRESENTS HIMSELF TO THE NEW KING. 395
Cu. I1.—Gil Blas arrives in Madrid, and makes his appearance at court: the
king is blessed with a better memory than most of his courtiers, and recommends
him to the notice of his prime minister. Consequences of that recommendation.
WE got to Madrid in less than eight days, Don Alphonso having given us two
of his best horses, that we might lose no time on the road. We alighted ata
ready-furnished lodging, where I had lived formerly, kept by Vincent Ferrero,
my old landlord, who was uncommonly glad to see me again.
As this man prided himself on being in the secret of whatever was going for-
ward either in court or city, I asked him after the best news. There is plenty
of it, whether best or worst, answered he. Since the death of Philip the Third,
the friends and partisans of the Cardinal Duke of Lerma have been moving
heaven and earth to support his Eminence on the pinnacle of ministerial
authority, but their efforts have been ineffectual: the Count of Olivarez has
carried the day, in spite of all their industry. It is alleged that Spain will be
no loser by the exchange, and that the present premier is possessed of a genius
so extensive, a mind so capacious, that he would be competent to wield the
machine of universal government. New brooms, they say, sweep clean! But,
at all events, you may take this for certain, that the public is fully impressed
with a very favourable opinion of his capacity : we shall see by and by whether
the Duke of Lerma’s situation is well or ill filled up. Ferrero, having got his
tongue into the right train for wagging, gave me all the particulars of all the
changes which had taken place at court since the Count of Olivarez had taken
his seat at the helm of the state vessel.
Two days after my arrival at Madrid, I repaired to the royal palace after my
dinner, and threw myself in the king’s way as he was crossing the lobby to his
closet ; but his notice was not at all attracted by my appearance. Next day,
I returned to the same place, but with no better success. On the third day he
looked me full in the face as he passed by, but the stare was perfectly vacant,
as far as my interest or my vanity was concerned. ‘This being the case, I re-
solved in my own mind what was proper to be done : You see, said I to Scipio,
who accompanied me, that the king is grown out of my recollection ; or if his
memory is not become more frail with the elevation of his circumstances, he
has some private reasons for not choosing to renew the acquaintance. I think
we cannot do better than make our way back as fast as possible for Valencia.
Let us not be in too great a hurry for that, sir, answered my secretary: you
know better thai myself, having served a long apprenticeship, that there is no
getting on at court without patience and perseverance. Be indefatigable in ex-
hibiting your person to the prince’s regards : by dint of forcing yourself on his
observation, you will oblige him to ask himself the question who this assiduous
frequenter of his haunts can possibly be, when memory must come to his aid,
and trace the features of his cheapener in the purchase of the lovely Catalina’s
good graces.
That Scipio might have nothing to reproach me with, I so far lent myself to
his wishes as to continue the same proceeding for the space of three weeks ;
when at length it happened one day that the monarch, noticing the frequency
of my appearance, sent for me into his presence. I went into the closet, not
without some perturbation of mind at the idea of a private interview with my
sovereign, Who are you? said he: your features are not altogether strange to
me, Where have I seen you? Please your majesty, answered I trembling, I
had the honour of escorting you one night with the Count of Lemos to the
house of..... Ah! I recollect it perfectly, cried the prince, as if a sudden
light had broke in upon him: you were the Duke of Lerma’s secretary ; and if
306 GIL BLAS.
I am not mistaken, your name is Santillane. I have not forgotten that on the
occasion alluded to you served me with a most commendable zeal, but received
a left-handed recompense for your exertions. Did you not get into prison at
the conclusion of the adventure? Yes, please your majesty, replied I : my
confinement in the tower of Segovia lasted six months ; but your goodness was
exercised in procuring my release. That, replied he, does not cancel my debt
to my faithful servant Santillane : it is not enough to have restored him to
liberty, for I ought to make him ample amends for the evils which he has
suffered on the score of his alacrity in my concerns.
Just as the prince was uttering these words, the Count of Olivarez came into
the closet. The nerves of favourites are shaken by every breath, their irrita-
bility excited by every trifle : he was as much astonished as any favourite need be
at the sight of a stranger in that place, and the king redoubled his wondering
propensities by the following recommendation—Count, I consign this young
man to your care, employ him, and let me find that you provide for his advance-
ment. The minister affected to receive this order with the most gracious ac-
quiescence, but looked me over from head to foot, with a glance from the
corner of his eye, and was on tenter-hooks to find out who had been so strangely
saddled upon him. Go, my friend, added the sovereign, addressing himself to
me, and waving his hand for me to withdraw ; the count will not fail to avail
himself of your services in a manner the most conducive to the interests of my
government, and the establishment of your own fortunes.
I immediately went out of the closet and made the best of my way to the son
of Coselina, who, being overrun with impatience to inquire what the king had
been talking about, fumbled at his fingers’ ends, and was all over in an agita-
tion. His first question was, whether we were to return to Valencia or become
a part of the court. You shall form your own conclusions, answered I ; at the
same time delighting him with an account word for word of the little conversa-
tion I had just held with the monarch. My dear master, said Scipio at once
in the excess of his joy, will you take me for your almanac-maker another
time? You must acknowledge that we were not in the wrong! the lords of
Leyva and myself have our eye-teeth about us! a journey to Madrid was the
only measure to be adopted in such a case, Already I anticipate your appoint-
ment to an eminent post : you will turn out to be some time or other a Cal-
derona to the Count of Olivarez. That is by no means the object of my ambi-
tion, observed I in return ; the employment is placed on too rugged an eminence
to excite any longings in my mind. I could wish for a good situation where
there could be no inducement to do what might go against my conscience, and
where: the favours of my prince are not likely to be bartered away for filthy lucre.
Having experienced my own unfitness for the possession of patronage, I cannot
be sufficiently on my guard against the inroads of avarice and ambition. Never
think about that, sir! replied my secretary, the minister will give you some
handsome appointment, which you may fill without any impeachment of your
integrity or independence.
Induced more by Scipio’s importunity than my own curiosity, I repaired the
following day before sunrise to the residence of the Count d’Olivarez, having
been informed that every morning, whether in summer or winter, he gave au-
dience by candlelight to all comers. I ensconced myself modestly in a corner
of the saloon, and from my lurking-place took especial notice of the count when
he made his appearance ; for I had marked his person but cursorily in the king’s
closet. He was above the mid: le stature, naid might pass for fat in a country
where it is a rarity to see any but lean subjects. His shoulders were so high,
as to look exactly as if he was hump-backed, but appearances were slanderous ;
for his blade-bones, though inelegant, were a pair; his head, which was large
GIL BLAS SLIGHTED BY OLIVAREZ. 397
enough to be capacious, dropped down upon his chest by the unwieldiness of
its own weight ; his hair was black and unconscious of a curl, his face lengthen-
ed, his complexion olive-coloured, his mouth retiring inwards, with the sharp-
pointed, turn-up chin of a pantaloon.
This whole arrangement of structure and symmetry did not exactly make up
the complete model of a nobleman according to the ideas of ancient art ; never:
theless, as I believed him to be in a temper of mind favourable to the gratifica-
tion of my wishes, I looked at his defects with an indulgent eye, and found him
aman very much to my satisfaction. One of the best points about him was,
that he received the public at large with the utmost affability and compla-
cency, holding out his hand for petitions with as much good humour as if he
were the person to be obliged, and this was a sufficient set-off against anything
untoward in the expression of his countenance. In the mean time, when in my
turn I came forward to pay my respects and make myself known to him, he
darted at me a glance of rude dislike and frightful menace ; then turning his
back, without condescending to give me audience, retired into his closet. Then
it was that the ugliness of this nobleman’s features appeared in all the extrava-
gance of caricature: so that I made the best of my way out of the saloon,
thunder-struck at so savage a reception, and quite at a loss how to conjecture
what might be the consequence.
Having got back to Scipio, who was waiting for me at the door—Can you
guess at all, said I, what sort of a greeting mine was? No, answered he, not
as to the minute particulars ; but with respect to the substance, easily enough :
the minister, ready upon all occasions to fall in with the fancies of his royal mas-
ter, must of course have made you a handsome offer of an ostensible and lucra-
tive situation. That isall you know about the matter, replied I ; and then went
on to acquaint him circumstantially with all that passed. He listened to me
with serious attention, and then said—The count could not have recollected
your person ; or rather, he must have been deceived by a fortuitous resemblance
between you and some impertinent suitor. I would advise you to try another
interview ; I will lay a wager he will look on you more kindly. I adopted my
secretary’s suggestion, and stood for a second time in the presence of the minis-
ter ; but he, behaving to me still worse than at first, puckered up his features
the moment my unlucky countenance came within his ken, just as if it was con-
nected with some lodged hate and certain loathing, which of force swayed him
to offend, himself being offended ; after this significant demonstration, he turned
away his glaring eyeballs, and withdrew without uttering a word.
I was stung to the quick by so hostile a treatment, and in a humour to set
out immediately on my return to Valencia ; but to that project Scipio uniformly
opposed his steady objections, not knowing how for the life of him to part with
those flattering hopes which fancy had engendered in his brain. Do you not
see plainly, said I, that the count wishes to drive me away from court ? The
monarch has testified in his presence some sort of favourable intention towards
me, and is not that enough to draw down upon me the thorough hatred of the
. monarch’s favourite? Let us drive before the wind, my good comrade ; let us
make up our minds to put quietly into port, and leave the open sea and the
honours of the flag in the possession of an enemy with whom we are too feeble
to contend. Sir, answered he, in high resentment against the Count of Olivarez,
I would not strike so easily. I would go and complain to the king of the con-
tempt in which his minister held his recommendation. Bad advice, indeed, my
friend, said 1; to take so imprudent a step as that, would soon bring bitter re-
pentance in the train of its consequences. I do aot even know whether it is
safe for me to remain any longer in this town.
At this hint, my secretary communed a little with his own thoughts ; and,
398 GIL BLAS.
considering that in point of fact we had to do with a man who kept the key of
the tower of Segovia in his pocket, my fears became naturalized in his breast.
He no longer opposed my earnest desire of leaving Madrid, and I determined
to take my measures accordingly on the very next day.
Cu. Ill.—TZhe project of retirement is prevented, and Joseph Navarro brought
upon the stage again, by an act of signal service, _
ON my way home to my lodgings I met Joseph Navarro, whom the reader will
recollect as on the establishment of Don Balthasar de Zuniga, and one of my
old friends. I made my bow first at a distance, then went up to him, and asked
whether he knew me again, and if he would still be so good as to speak to a
wretch who had repaid his friendship with ingratitude. You acknowledge then,
said he, that you have not behaved very handsomely byme? Yes, answered I;
and you are fully justified in laying on your reproaches thick and threefold : I
deserve them all, unless indeed my guilt may be thought to have been atoned
by the remorse of conscience attendant on it. Since you have repented of your
misconduct, replied Navarro, embracing me, I ought no longer to hold it in
remembrance. For my part, I knew not how to hug Joseph close enough in
my ry ; and we both of us resumed our original kind feelings towards one
another.
He had heard of my imprisonment and the derangement of my affairs ; but
of what followed he was totally ignorant. I informed him of it ; relating word
for word my conversation with the king, without suppressing the minister’s late
ungracious reception of me, any more than my present purpose of retiring into
my favourite obscurity. Beware of removing from the scene of action, said he :
since the sovereign has shown a disposition to befriend you, there are always
uses to be made of such a circumstance. Between ourselves, the Count of Oli-
varez has something rather unaccountable in his character: he is a very good
sort of nobleman, but rather whimsical withal : sometimes, as on the present
occasion, he acts in a most offensive manner, and none but himself can furnish
a clue to disentangle the intricate thread of his motives and their results. . But
however this may be, or whatever reasons might have swayed him to give you
so scurvy a reception, keep your footing here, and do not budge; he will not
be able to hinder you from thriving under the royal shelter and protection ; take
my word for that! I will just give a hint upon the subject this evening to Sig-
nor Don Balthasar de Zuniga, my master ; he is uncle to the Count of Olivarez,
and shares with him in the toils and cares of office. Navarro having given me
this assurance, inquired where I lived, and then we parted.
It was not long before we met again ; for he came to call on me the very next
day. Signor de Santillane, said he, you are not without a protector ; my mas-
ter will lend you his powerful support : on the strength of the good character
which I have given your lordship, he has promised to speak to his nephew, the
Count of Olivarez, in your behalf ; and I doubt not but he will effectually pre-
pores him in your favour, My friend Navarro not meaning to serve me
y halves, introduced me two days afterwards to Don Balthasar, who said with
a gracious air: Signor de Santillane, your friend Joseph has pronounced your
panegyric in terms which have won me over completely to your interest. I
made a low obeisance to Signor de Zuniga, and answered, that to the latest
pee of my life I should entertain the most lively sense of my obligation to
avarro, for having secured to me the protection of a minister, who was con-
sidered, and that for the best reasons possible, as the presiding genius, the
ee luminary, or, as it were, the eye and mind of the ministerial council.
on Balthasar, at this unexpected stroke of flattery, clapped me on the shoul-
OLIVAREZ TAKES GIL BLAS INTO FAVOUR. 300
der with an approving chuckle, and returned my compliment by a more signifi-
cant intimation: You may call on the Count of Olivarez again to-morrow, and
then you will have more reason to be pleased with him.
For the third time, therefore, did I make my appearance before the prime
minister, who, picking me out from among the mob of suitors, cast upon me a
look conveying with it a simper of welcome, from which I ventured to draw a
good omen, This is all as it should be, said I to myself ; the uncle has brought
the nephew to his proper bearings. I no longer anticipated any other than a
favourable reception, and my confidence was fully justified. The count, after
having given audience to the promiscuous crowd, took me with him into his
closet, and said with a familiar address: My friend Santillane, you must excuse
the little disquietude I have occasioned you merely for my own amusement ; it
was done in sport, though it was death to you, for the sole purpose of practising
on your discretion, and observing to what measures your disgust and disap-
pointment would incite you. Doubtless you must have concluded that your
services were displeasing to me; but on the contrary, my good fellow, I must
confess frankly, that, as far as appears at present, you are perfectly to my mind.
Though the king my master had not enjoined me to take charge of your fortunes,
I should have done so of my own free choice. Besides, my uncle, Don Balthasar
de Zuniga, to whom I can refuse nothing, has requested me to consider you as
a man for whom he particularly interests himself: that alone would be enough
to fix my confidence in you, and make me most sincerely your friend.
This outset of my career produced so lively an impression on my feelings, that
they became unintelligibly tumultuous. I threw myself at the minister’s feet,
who insisted on my rising immediately, and then went on to the following effect :
Return hither to-day after dinner, and ask for my steward: he will acquaint
you with the orders which I shall have given him. With these words his ex-
cellency broke up the conference to hear mass, according to his constant custom
every day after giving audience: he then attended the king’s levee.
Cu. 1V.—Gil Blas ingratiates himself with the Count of Olivarez.
I pip not fail returning after dinner to the prime minister’s house, and asking
for his steward, whose name was Don Raymond Caporis. No sooner had I
made myself known, than paying his civilities to me in the most respectful man-
ner, Sir, said he, follow me if you please: Iam to do myself the honour of
shewing you the way to the apartment which is ordered for you in this family.
Having spoken thus, he led me up a narrow staircase to a gallery communicat-
ing with five or six rooms, which composed the second story belonging to one
wing of the house, and were furnished neatly, but without ostentation. You
behold, resumed he, the lodging assigned you by his lordship, where you will
always have a table of six persons, kept at his expense. You will be waited on
by his own servants; and there will always be a carriage at your command.
But that is not all: his excellency insisted on it in the most pointed manner,
that you should be treated in every respect with the same attention as if you
belonged to the house of Guzman.
- What the devil is the meaning of all this? said I within myself. What con-
struction ought I to put upon all these honours? Is there not some humorous
prank at the bottom of it? and must it not be more in the way of diversion than
anything else, that the minister is flattering me up with so imposing an estab-
lishment? While I was ruminating in this uncertainty, fluctuating between
hope and fear, a page came to let me know that the count was asking for me.
I waited instantly on his lordship, who was quite alone in his closet. Well!
Santillane, said he, are you satisfied with your rooms, and with my orders to
400 GIL BLAS.
Don Raymond? Your excellency’s liberality, answered I, seems out of all
proportion with its object; so that I receive it with fear and trembling. Why
so? replied he. Can I be too lavish of distinction toa man whom the king has
committed to my care, and for whose interests he aoe commanded me to
provide? No, that is impossible; and I do no more than my duty in placing you
on a footing of respectability and consequence. No longer, therefore, let what
I do for you be a subject of surprise ; but rely on it that splendour in the eye of
the world, and the solid advantages of accumulating wealth, are equally within
our grasp, if you do but attach yourself as faithfully to me as you did to the
uke of Lerma,
But now that we are on the subject of that nobleman, continued he, it is said
that you lived on terms of personal intimacy with him. I have a strong curiosity
to learn the circumstances which led to your first acquaintance, as well as in what
department you acted under him. Do not disguise or gloss over the slightest
particular, for I shall not be satisfied without a full, true, and circumstantial
recital. Then it was that I recollected in what an embarrassing predicament I
stood with the Duke of Lerma on a similar occasion, and by what line of con-
duct I extricated myself; that same course I eacraet: once again with the hap-
piest success ; whereby the reader is to understand that throughout my narrative
I softened down the passages likely to give umbrage to my patron, and glanced
with a superficial delicacy over transactions which would have reflected but
little lustre on my own character. I likewise manifested a considerate tender-
ness for the Duke of Lerma; though by giving that fallen favourite no quarter,
I should better have consulted the taste of him whom I wished to please. As
for Don Rodrigo de Calderona, there I laid about me with the religious fury of
a bishop in a battle. I brought together, and displayed in the most glaring colours,
all the anecdotes I had been able to pick up respecting his corrupt practices and
underhand dealing in the sale of promotions, military, ecclesiastical, and civil.
What you have told me about Calderona, cried the minister with eagerness,
exactly squares with certain memorials which have been presented to me, con-
taining the heads of charges still more seriously affecting his character. He
will very soon be put upon his trial, and if you have any wish to glut your re-
venge by his ruin, I am of opinion that the object of your desire is near at hand.
I am far from thirsting after his blood, said I, though had it depended on him,
mine wget have been shed in the tower of Segovia, where he was the occasion
of my taking lodgings for a pretty long term. What! inquired his excellency,
was it Don 1 who procured you that sudden journey? this a part of the
story of which I was not aware before. Don Balthasar, to whom Navarro
gave a summary of your adventures, told me indeed that the late king gave
orders for your commitment, as a mark of his indignation against you for having
led the Prince of ye oe astray, and taken him to a house of suspicious character
in the night: but that is all I know of the matter, and cannot for the life of me
conjecture what part Calderona could possibly have had to play in that rn
comedy. A principal part, whether on the stage or in real life, answered I ;
that of a jealous lover, taking vengeance for an injury, sustained in the tender-
est point. At the same time I related minutely all the facts with which the
reader is already acquainted, and touched his risible ‘Beiter en. difficult as
they were of access, so exactly in the right place, that he could not help wag-
ging his under-hung jaw in a paroxysm of humour-stricken ecstasy, and laugh-
ing till he cried again. Catalina’s double cast in the drama delighted him
exceedingly ; her sometimes playing the niece and sometimes personating the
grand-daughter seemed to tickle his fancy more than anything ; nor was he
altogether inattentive to the appearance which the Duke of Lerma made in this
undignified farce of state.
CHARACTER OF THE COUNT D’ OLIVAREZ. 4ot
When I had finished my story, the count gave me leave to depart, with an
assurance that on the next day he would not fail to make trial of my talents for
business. I ran immediately to the family hotel of Zuniga, to thank Don Bal-
thazar for his good offices, and to acquaint my friend Joseph with the favour-
able dispositions of the prime minister, and my brilliant prospects in con-
sequence.
Cu. V.— Zhe private conversation of Gil Blas with Navarro, and his first
employment in the service of the Count d’ Olivares.
As soon as I got to the ear of Joseph, I told him with much trepidation of spi-
rits what a world of topics I had to deposit in his private ear. He took me
where we might be alone, when I asked him, after having communicated a key
to the whole transaction up to the present time, what he thought of the business
as it stood. I think, answered he, that you are in a fair way to make an enor-
mous fortune, Everything turns out according to your wishes: you have made
yourself acceptable to the prime minister; and what must be taken for some-
thing in the account, I can render you the same service as my uncle Melchior
de la Ronda, when you attached yourself to the archiepiscopal establishment of
Grenada. He spared you the trouble of finding out the weak side of that pre-
late and his principal officers, by discovering their different characters to you ;
and it is my purpose, after his example, to bring you perfectly acquainted
with the count, his lady countess, and their only daughter, Donna Maria de
Guzman.
The minister’s parts are quick, his judgment penetrating, and his talents
altogether calculated for the formation of extensive projects. He affects the
credit of universal genius, on the strength of a showy smattering in general sci-
ence ; so that there is no subject, in his own opinion, too difficult to be decided
on his mere authority. He sets himself up for a practical lawyer, a complete
general, and a politician of thorough-paced sagacity. Add to all this, that he
is so obstinately wedded to his own opinions, as unchangeably to persevere in
the path of his own chalking out, to the absolute contempt of better advice, for
fear of seeming to be influenced by any good sense or intelligence, but what he
would be thought to engross in the resources of his own mind. Between our-
selves, this blot in his character may produce strange consequences, which it
may be well for the monarchy should indulgent heaven for the defect of human
means avert! As for his talents in council, he shines in debate by the force of
natural eloquence, and would write as well as he speaks, if he did not injudici-
ously affect a certain dignity of style, which degenerates into affectation, quaint-
ness, and obscurity. His modes of thinking are peculiar to himself; he is
capricious in conduct, and visionary in design. Here you have the picture of
his mind, the light and shade of his intellectual merits: the qualities of his
heart and disposition remain to be delineated. He is generous and warm in
his friendships. It is said that he is revengeful; but would he be a Spaniard
if he were otherwise? In addition to this, he has been accused of ingratitude,
for having driven the Duke of Uzeda and Friar Lewis Aliaga into banishment,
though he owed them, according to common report, obligations of the most
binding nature; and yet even this must not be looked into so narrowly under
his circumstances: there are few breasts capacious enough to afford house-room
for two such opposite inmates as political ambition and gratitude.
Donna Agnes de Zuniga é Velasco, Countess of Olivarez, continued Joseph,
is a lady to whom it is impossible to impute more than one fault, but that is a
huge one; for it consists in making a market, and a market the most exorbit-
ant in its terms, of her natural influence over the mind of her husband. As for
402 . GIL BLAS.
Donna Maria de Guzman, who beyond all dispute is at this moment the very
first match in Spain, she is a lady of first-rate accomplishments, and absolutely
idolized by her father, Regulate your conduct upon these hints: make your
court with art and plausibility to these two ladies, and let it appear as if you
were more devoted to the Count of Olivarez than ever you were to the Duke of
Lerma before your forced excursion to Segovia ; you will become a leading and
powerful member of the administration.
I should advise you, moreover, added he, to see my master, Don Balthasar,
from time to time; for though you have no longer any occasion for his interest
to push you forward, it will not be amiss to waste a little incense upon hin.
You stand very high in his good opinion; preserve your footing there, and cul-
tivate his friendship ; it may stand you in some stead on any emergency. I
could not help observing, that as the uncle and nephew were in a certain sort
partners in the government of the state, there might possibly be some little
symptom of jealousy between brothers near the throne. On the contrary,
answered he, they are united by the most confidential ties. Had it not been
for Don Balthasar, the Count of Olivarez might probably never have been
prime minister; for you are to know, that after Philip the Third had paid the
debt of nature, all the adherents and partisans rere to the house of San-
doval made a great stir, some in favour of the cardinal, and others on his son’s
behalf ; but my master, a greater adept in court intrigue than any of them, and
the count, who is nearly as great an adept as himself, disconcerted all their
measures, and took their own so judiciously for the purpose of stepping into the
vacant place, that their rivals had no chance against them. The Count of
Olivarez, being appointed prime minister, divided the duties with his uncle,
Don Balthasar; leaving foreign affairs to him, and taking the home department
to himself ; the consequence is, that the bonds of family friendship are drawn
closer between these two noblemen, than if political influence had no share in
their mutual interests: they are perfectly independent in their respective lines
of business, and live together on terms of good understanding which no intrigue
can possibly affect or alter.
Such was the substance of my conversation with Joseph, and the advantage
to be derived from it was my own to make the most of: at all events, it was
my duty to thank Signor de Zuniga for all the influence he had the goodness
to exert in my favour. He assured me with infinite good-breeding that he
should avail himself of every opportunity as it arose to promote my wishes,
and that he was very glad his nephew had behaved so as to meet my ideas,
because he meant to refresh his memory in my behalf, being determined, as he
was pleased to say, to place it beyond all manner of doubt how far he himself
participated in all my views, and to make it evident that, instead of one fast
friend, I had two. In terms like these did Don Balthasar, through mere friend-
ship for Navarro, take the moulding of my fortunes on himself.
On that same evening did I leave my paltry lodging to take up my abode at
the prime minister’s, where I sat down to supper with Scipio in my own suite
of apartments. There were we both waited on by the servants belonging to
the household, who as they stood behind our chairs, while we were affecting
the pomp and circumstance of political elevation, were more likely than not to
be laughing in their sleeves at the pantomime they had been ordered 2 their
manager to play in our presence. When they had taken away and left us to
ourselves, my secretary being no longer under restraint, gave vent to a thousand
wild imaginations which his sprightly temper and inventive hopes engendered
in his fancy. On my part, though by no means cold or insensible to the bril-
liant prospects which were opening on my view, I did not as yet yield in the
least degree to the weakness of being thrust aside from the right line of my
GIL BLAS DRAWS UP A STATE PAPER. 403
hilosophy by temporal allurements. So much otherwise, that on going to
tal I fell into a sound sleep, without being haunted in my dreams by those
phantoms of flattering delusion which might have gained admittance with no
severe question from a corruptible door-keeper. The ambitious Scipio, on the
contrary, tossed and tumbled all night in the agitation of restless contrivance.
Whenever he dozed a little imp took possession of his brain, with a pen behind
its ear, working out by all the rules of arithmetic the bulky sum total of his
daughter Seraphina’s marriage portion.
No sooner had I got my clothes on the next morning, than a message came
from his lordship. I flew like lightning at the summons, when his excellency
said: Now then, Santillane, suppose you give us a specimen of your talents
for business. You say that the Duke of Lerma used to give you state papers
to bring into official form; and I have one, by way of experiment, on which
you shall try your skill. The subject you will easily comprehend : it turns upon
an exposition of public affairs, such as to throw an artificial light on the first
appearance of the new ministry, and to prejudice the public in its favour. I
have already whispered it about by my emissaries, that every department of
the state was completely disorganized, that the talents which preceded us were
no talents at all; and the object at present is to impress both court and city by
a formal declaration with the idea, that our aid is absolutely necessary to save
the monarchy itself from sinking. On this theme you may expatiate till the
populace become lock-jawed with astonishment, and the sober part of the pub-
lic are gravely argued out of all prepossession in favour of the discarded party.
By way of contrast, you will talk of the dignus vindice nodus, taking care to
translate it into Spanish; and boast of the measures adopted under the new
order of things, to secure the permanent glory of the king’s reign, to give per-
petual prosperity to his dominions, and to confer perfect, unchangeable happi-
ness on his good people.
His lordship, having given out the general subject of my thesis, left me with
a paper containing the heads of charges, whether just or unjust, against the late
administration : and I remember perfectly well, that therewere ten articles, whose
lightest word, even of the lightest article, would harrow up the soul of a true
Spaniard, and make his knotted and combined locksto part. That the current
of my fancy might experience no interruption, he shut me into a little closet near
his own, where the spirit of poetry might possess me in all its freedom and in-
dependence. My best faculties were called forth, to compose a statement of
affairs commensurate with my own concern in the sweeping of the new brooms.
My first object was to lay open the nakedness and abandonment of the kingdom:
the finances in a state of bankruptcy, the civil list and immediate resources of
the crown pawned fifty times over, the navy unpaid, dismantled, and in mutiny.
All this hideous delineation was referred for its justice and accuracy to the
wrongheadedness.and stupidity of government at the close of the last reign, and
the doctrine most strongly enforced, that unexampled wisdom and patriotism
only could ward off the fatal consequences. In short, the monarchy could only
be sustained on the shoulders of our political sufficiency and reforming prudence.
The ex-ministry were so cruelly belaboured, that the Duke of Lerma’s ruin, ac-
cording to the terms of my syllogism, was the salvation of Spain. To own the
truth, though my professions were in the spirit of Christian charity towards that
nobleman, I was not sorry to give him a sly rub in the exercise of my function.
Oh man! man! what a compound of candour-breathing satire and splenetic
impartiality art thou !
Towards the conclusion, having finished my frightful portraiture of over-
hanging evils, I endeavoured to allay the storm my art had raised by making
futurity as bright as the past had been gloomy. The Count of Olivarez was
404 GIL BLAS.
brought in at the close, like the tutelary deity of an ancient commonwealth in
the crisis of its fate. I promised more than paganism ever feigned or chivalry
fancied in the wildest of its crusading projects. Ina word, I so exactly exe-
cuted what the new minister meant, that he seemed not to know his own hints
again, when drawn out in my emphatic and appropriate language. Santillane,
said he, do you know that this is more like the composition one might expect
from a secretary of state, than like that of a privatesecretary ? I can no longer
be surprised that the Duke of Lerma was fond of calling your talents into ac- |
tion, Your style is concise, and by no means inelegant ; but it creeps rather
too much in the level paths of nature. At the same time, pointing out the pas-
sages which did not hit his fancy, he corrected them ; and I gathered from the
touches he threw in, that Navarro was right in saying he affected sententious
wit, but mistook for it quaint and stale conceits. Nevertheless, though he pre-
ferred the stately, or rather the grotesque in writing, he suffered two thirds of
my performance to stand without alteration ; and by way of proving how en-
tirely he was satisfied, sent me three hundred pistoles by Don Raymond after
dinner,
Cu. VI.—TZhe application of the three hundred pistoles, and Scipio's commission
connected with them. Success of the state paper mentioned in the last chapter.
TuIs handsome present of the minister furnished Scipio with a new subject of
congratulation, by reason of our second appearance at court. You may remark,
said he, that fortune is preparing a load of aggrandizement to lay on your lord-
ship’s shoulders. Are you still sorry for having turned your back on solitude ?
May the Count of Olivarez live for ever! he is a very different sort of a master
from his predecessor, The Duke of Lerma, with all your devotion to his service,
left you to live upon suction for months without a pistole to bless yourself with ;
and the count has already made you a present which you could have had no
reason to expect but after a course of long service.
I should very much like, added he, that the lords of Leyva should be witnesses
of your great success, or at least that they should be informed of it. It is high
time indeed, answered I, and I meant to speak with you on that subject. They
must doubtless be impatient to hear of my proceedings, but I waited till my fate
was fixed, and till I could decide for certain whether I should stay at court or
not. Now that I am sure of my destination, you have only to set out for Va-
lencia whenever you please, and to acquaint those noblemen with my present
situation, which I consider as their doing, since it is evident that, but for them,
I should never have resolved on my journey to Madrid. My dear master, cried
the son of Bohemian accident, what joy shall I communicate by relating what
has happened to you! Why am I not already at the gates of Valencia? But I
shall be there forthwith. Don Alphonso’s two horses are ready in the stable.
I shall take one of my lord’s livery servants with me. Besides that company is
pleasant on the road, you know very well the effect of official parade, in making
impression on the natives of a provincial town.
I could not help laughing at my secretary’s foolish vanity; and yet, with
vanity perhaps more than equal to his own, I left him to do as he pleased. Go
about your business, said I, and make the best of your way back ; for I have an-
other commission to give you. I mean to send you to the Asturias with some
money formy mother. Through neglect I have suffered the time to elapse when
I promised to remit her a hundred pistoles, and pledged you to make the payment
in person. Such engagements ought to be held sacred by a son ; and I re-
proach myself with inaccuracy in the observance of mine. Sir, answered Scipio,
within six weeks I shall bring you an account of both your commissions ; hav-
COUNT OLIVAREZ REFORMS THE STATE. 405
ing opened my budget to the lords of Leyva, looked in at your country-house,
and taken a peep at the town of Oviedo, the recollection of which I cannot ad-
mit into my mind, without turning over three-fourths of the inhabitants, and
one-half of the remaining quarter, to the corrective discipline of that infernal
executioner, who is supposed to be kept on foot for the purpose of castigating
sinners. I then counted down one hundred pistoles to that same son of a wan-
dering mother for my honoured parents’ annuity, and another hundred for him-
self; meaning that he should perform his long journey without grumbling on
my account by the way.
Some days after his departure his lordship sent our memorial to press ; and it
was no sooner published than it became the topic of conversation in every circle
throughout ‘Madrid. The people, enamoured of novelty, took up this well-
written statement of their own wretchedness with fond partiality ; the derange-
ment and exhaustion of the finances, painted with a mixture of truth and poetry,
excited a strong feeling of popular indignation against the Duke of Lerma; and
if these paper bullets of the brain, cast in the political armoury of a rival, failed
to carry victory with them in the opinions of all mankind, they were at all events
hailed with triumph by the most clamorous of our own partisans. As for the
magnificent promises which the Count of Olivarez threw in, and among others
that of keeping the machine of state in motion, by a system of economy, with-
out adding to the public burdens, they were caught at with avidity by the citi-
zens at large, and considered as pledges of an enlightened and patriotic policy,
so that the whole city resounded with the acclamation of panegyric and congra-
tulation on the opening of new prospects.
The minister, delighted to have gained his end so easily, which in that pub-
lication had only been. to draw popularity upon himself, was now determined to
seize the substance as well as catch at the shadow, by an act of unquestionable
credit with the subject, and high utility to the king’s service. For that purpose,
he had recourse to the emperor Galba’s contrivance, consisting in a forced re-
gurgitation of ill-gotten spoils from individuals who had made large fortunes,
hell and their own consciences knew best how, in the superintendence of the
royal expenditure. When he had squeezed these spunges till they were dry
again, and had filled the king’s coffers with the drainings, he undertook to ren-
der the reform permanent by abolishing all pensions, not excepting his own,
and curtailing the gratuities too frequently bestowed on favourites out of the
prince’s privy purse. To succeed in this design, which he could not carry into
effect without changing the face of the government, he charged me with the
composition of a new state paper, furnishing the substance and the form from
his own idea. He then advised me to raise my style as much as possible above
the level of my ordinary simplicity, and to give an air of more eloquence to my
phraseology. A hint is sufficient, my lord, said I; your excellency wishes to
unite sublimity with illumination, and it shall be so. I shut myself up in the
same closet where I had already worked so successfully, and sat down stiffly to
my task, first calling to my aid the lofty and clear perceptions, the noble and
sonorous expressions, of my old instructor, the archbishop of Grenada.
I began by laying it down as a first maxim of political philosophy, that the
vital functions, the respiration as it were of all monarchy, depended on the strict
administration of the finances ; that in our particular case that duty became im-
periously urgent, irresistibly impressing on our consciences ; and that the reve-
nue should be considered as the nerves and sinews of Spain, to hold her rivals
in check and keep her enemies in awe. After this general declamation, I
pointed out to the sovereign, for to him the memorial was addressed, that by
cutting down all pensions and perquisites dependent on the ordinary income, he
would not thereby deprive himself of that truly royal pleasure, a princely munifi-
406 GIL BLAS.
cence towards those of his subjects who had established a fair claim to his
favours ; because without drawing upon his treasury, he had the means of dis-
tributing more acceptable rewards ; that for one branch of service, there were
viceroyalties, lieutenancies, orders of merit, and all sorts of military commis-
sions: for another, high judicial situations with salaries annexed, civil offices of
magistracy with sounding titles to give them consequence ; and though last, not
least, all the temporal possessions of the church to animate the piety of its spi-
ritual pastors.
This memorial, which was much longer than the first, occupied me nearly
three days ; but as luck would have it, my performance was exactly to my mas-
ter’s mind, who finding it written with sententious cogency, and bristled up with
metaphors in the declamatory parts, complimented me in the highest terms.
That is vastly well expressed indeed ! said he, laying his finger on a e
here and there, and picking out all the most inflated sentences he could find :
that language bears the stamp of fine composition, and might pass for the pro-
duction of a classic. Courage, my friend! I foresee that your services will be
worth their weight in gold. And yet, notwithstanding the applauses he lavish-
ed on my classical composition, a few of his own heightening touches, he
thought, would make it read still better. He put a good deal of his own stuff
into it, and the medley was manufactured into a piece of eloquence which was
considered as unanswerable by the king and all thecourt. The whole city join-
ed in opinion with the higher orders, deriving the mosteflattering hopes of the
future from these grand promises, and concluding that the monarchy must re-
cover its pristine splendour during the ministry of so illustrious a character.
His excellency, finding that my sermon on economy was fraught with practical
inferences of utility to him, was kind enough to wish that I should profit by the
exercise of my own talents. In conformity therefore with his new system of
patronage, he gave me an annuity of five hundred crowns on the commandery
of Castile ; and the acceptance of it was so much the more palatable, as no
dirty work had been done for it, but it was honestly, though cheaply, earned.
Cu. VII.—Gil Blas meets with his friend Fabricio once more; the accident,
place, and circumstances described ; with the particulars of their conversation
together.
NoTHING gave his lordship greater pleasure than to hear the general decision
of Madrid on the conduct of his administration. Not a day passed but he in-
quired what they were saying of him in the political world. He kept spies in
pay, to bring him an exact account of what was going on in the city. They
particularized the most trivial discourses which they overheard ; and their orders
being to suppress nothing, his self-love was grazed now and then, for the people
have a way of bolting out home truths, without any nice calculation where they
may glance.
Finding that the count loved political small talk, I made it my business to
frequent places of public resort after dinner, and to chime in with the conversa-
tion of genteel people whenever opportunity offered. Should the measures of
government happen to be canvassed among them, I pricked up my ears, and
greedily took in their discourse; if anything worth repeating was said, his ex-
cellency was sure to hear of it. It can scarcely be necessary to hint, that I never
carried home anything which was not likely to pay for the porterage.
One day, returning from one of these little conversational parties, my road
lay in front of an hospital. It occurred to me to goin. I walked through two
or three wards, filled with diseased patients, and examined their beds to see that
they were properly taken care of. Among these unhappy wretches, whom I
GIL BLAS MEETS WITH FABRICIO. 407
could not look at without the most painful feelings, I observed one whose fea-
tures struck me: it surely could be no other than Fabricio, my countryman and
chum! To look at him more closely, I drew near his bedside, and finding be-
yond a possibility of doubt that it was the poet Nunez, I stopped to look at
him for a few seconds without saying a word. He also fixed his regards on
me. At length breaking silence: Do not my eyes deceive me? said I. Is it
indeed Fabricio, and here? It is indeed, answered he, coldly, and you need not
wonder at it. Since we parted, I have been working indefatigably at the trade
of an author : I have written novels, plays, and works of genius in every de-
partment. My brain is fairly spun out, and here I am.
I could not help laughing at such a sketch of literary biography; and still
more at the serious air of the accompanying action. What! cried I, has your
muse brought you to this pass? Has she played you such a jade’s trick as
this? Even as you witness, answered he; this establishment is a sort of half-
pay receptacle for invalids on the muster-roll of disabled wit. You have acted
discreetly, my good friend, to lay yourself out for promotion in a different line.
But they tell me, you are no longer a courtier, and that your prospects in politi-
cal life were all blasted ; nay, they went so far as to affirm, that you were com-
mitted to close custody by the king’s order. They told you no more than the
truth, replied I: the delightful vision of political eminence wherein you left me
last, soon shifted the scene of my incoherent dreams to a prison and complete
destitution. But for all that, my friend, here you behold me again in a better
plight than ever. That is quite out of the question, said Nunez: your deport-
ment is discreet and decent, you have not that supercilious and devil-take-the-
hindermost sort of aspect, which good keep communicates to the human face.
The reverses of this chequered life, replied I, have brought me down to the level
of the more modest virtues ; I have taken a lesson in the school of adversity,
to enjoy the possession of a good stud without riding the great horse.
Tell me then candidly, cried Fabricio, raising his head upon his hand with
his elbow upon the pillow, what your present occupation can possibly be. A
steward perhaps to some nobleman out at elbows, or man of business to some
rich widow! Something better than either the one or the other, rejoined I, but
excuse me from saying more at present: another time your curiosity shall be
satisfied, It is enough at present to assure you that my means are equal to my
inclination, and that you may command independence through me; but then
you must submit to an embargo on your wit, and a non-intercourse act between
you and the faculty of writing, whether in verse or prose. Can you make this
sacrifice to my friendship? I have already made it to the powers above, said
he, in my last critical sickness. A Dominican made me forswear poetry, as an
amusement bordering on criminality, but at all events beside the turnpike-road
of good sense. I wish you joy, my dear Nunez, replied 1; beware of a revoke,
There is not the least danger on that head, rejoined he : the Muses and I have
agreed on terms of separation: just as you came in at that door, I was conning
over a farewell ode. Good master Fabricio, said I, with a wise swagging to
and fro of my head, it is a doubtful question whether your vow of abjuration
ought to pass current with the Dominican and myself: you seem over head and
ears in love with those virgins incarnate. No, no, contended he peevishly, I
have cut the connection asunder. Nay, more, I have quarrelled with their
keepers, the public. The readers of these days do not deserve an author of
more genius than themselves: I should be sorry to write down to their com-
prehension. You are not to suppose that this is the language of disgust; it is
my sincere and well-weighed opinion. Applause and hisses are just the same
tome. It is a toss up who fai
ils and who succeeds: the wit of to-day is the
blockhead of to-morrow. What cursed fools our dramatists must be, to care for
408 GIL BLAS.
anything but their poundage when their plays happen to be received! It is
all very well for a few nights! But only fancy a revival at the end of twenty
years, and what a figure they will cut then! The audiences of the present day
turn up their noses at the stock pieces of the last age, and it is a question
whether their taste will fare better with their more critical descendants. If that
conjecture be probable, the inventors of clap-traps now will be the butt of cat-
calls hereafter. It is just the same with novel writers, and all other manufac-
turers of unnecessary literature: they strut and fret for an hour, and then are no
more seen or heard of. The glories of successful authorship are the mere vapours
of a murky atmosphere, meteors of a marsh, foul coruscations of a dunghill,
cathedral tapers to put out the galaxy, blue flames of coarse paper held over a
candle.
Though these caricatures of rival renown were the mere creations of jealousy
in the poet of the Asturias, it was not my business to correct his ill temper. I
am delighted, said I, that wit and you have had so serious a quarrel; and that
the diarrhoea of your inventive faculties has been cured by an astringent. You
may depend on it, I will put you in the way of a good livelihood, without draw-
ing deep upon your intellectual credit, So much the better, cried he; wit smells
like carrion in my nostrils, or rather like a pungent and deleterious perfume;
fragrant to the sense, but corrosive to the vitals. I heartily wish, my dear Fa-
bricio, resumed I, that you may always keep in that mind, Only wash your
hands completely of poetry, and you may depend on it, I will enable you to
keep your head above water without picking or stealing. In the mean while,
added I, slipping a purse of sixty pistoles into his hand, accept this as a slight
instance of my regard.
O friend like the friends in days of yore, cried the son of barber Nunez,
out of his wits with joy and gratitude, it was heaven itself which sent you into
this hospital, whence your goodness is now discharging me! Before we parted,
I gave him my address, and invited him to come and see me as soon as his
health would permit. He opened his eyes as an oyster does its shell, when I
told him that I lodged under the minister’s roof. illustrious Gil Blas! said
he, great as Pompey and fortunate as Sylla, whose lot it is to be hand in glove
with the dictators of modern times! I rejoice most disinterestedly in your good
fortune, because it is so very evident what a noble use you make of it.
, Cu. VIIL.—Gi Blas gets forward progressively in his master’s affections.
Scipio's return to Madrid, and account of his journey.
;
THE Count of Olivarez, whom I shall henceforward call my lord duke, because
the king was pleased to confer that dignity on him about this time, was infested
with a weakness which I did not suffer to pass without taking toll: it wasa
furious desire of being beloved. The moment he fancied that any one really
liked him, his heart was caught ina trap. This was not lost upon my keen
sense of character. It was not enough to do precisely as he ordered; I super-
added a zeal in the execution which made him mine. I laid myself out to his
liking in everything, and provided beforehand for his most eccentric wishes.
By conduct like this, which almost always answers, I became by degrees my
master’s favourite; and he, on the other hand, as if he had got round to my
blind side also, wormed himself into my affections, by giving me his own. So
forward did I get into his good graces, as to halve his confidence with Signor
Carnero, his principal secretary.
Carnero had played my game; and that so successfully, as to be intrusted
with the greater mysteries. We two therefore were the keepers of the prime
minister’s conscience, and held the keys ofall his secrets: with this difference,
GIL BLAS ADVANCES IN HIS MASTERS FAVOUR. 409
that Carnero was consulted on state affairs, myself about his private concerns,
dividing the business into two separate departments; and we were each of
us equally pleased with our own. We lived together without jealousy, and
certainly without attachment. I had every reason to be satisfied with my quar-
ters, where continual intercourse gave me an opportunity of prying into the
duke’s inmost soul, which was a masked battery to all mankind beside, but
plain as a pikestaff to me, when he no longer questioned the sincerity of my
attachment to him.
Santillane, said he one day, you were witness to the Duke of Lerma’s pos-
session of an authority, more like that of an absolute monarch than a favourite
minister; and yet I am still happier than he was at the very summit of his good ~
fortune. He had two formidable enemies in his own son, the Duke of Uzeda,
and in the confessor of Philip the Third: but there is no one now about the
king who has credit enough to stand in my way, or even, as 1am aware, the
slightest inclination to do me mischief,
It is true, continued he, that on my accession to the ministry, it was my first
care to remove all hangers-on from about the prince but those of my own family
or connections. By means of viceroyalties or embassies I got rid of al] the
nobility who, by their personal merit, could have interfered with me in the
good graces of the sovereign, whom I mean to engross entirely to myself; so
that I may say at the present moment, no statesman of the time holds me in
check by the ascendancy of his personal influence. You see, Gil Blas, I open
my mind to you. As I have reason to think that you are mine heart and soul,
I have chosen to put you in possession of everything. You are a clever youth ;
with reflection, penetration, and discretion: in short, you are just the very crea-
ture to acquit yourself of all possible little offices in all possible directions ; you
are also a young fellow of very promising parts, and must in the nature of
things be in my interests.
There was no standing the attack which these flattering representations were
calculated to make upon the weakly defended fortress of my philosophy. Un-
authorized whims of avarice and ambition mounted suddenly into my head,
and brought forward certain sentiments of political speculation which were
supposed to have been in abeyance. I gave the minister an assurance that I
should fulfil his intentions to the utmost of my power, and held myself in readi-
ness to execute without examination or inference all the orders it might be his
pleasure to give me.
While I was thus disposed to take fortune in her affable fit, Scipio returned
from his peregrination. I have no long story for you, said he. The lords of
Leyva were delighted at your reception from the king, and at the manner in
which the Count of Olivarez and you came to understand one another.
My friend, said I, you would have delighted them still more, had you been
able to tell them on what a footing I am now with my lord. My advances
since your departure have been prodigious. Happy man be his dole, my dear
master, answered he: my mind forebodes that we shall cut a figure.
Let us change the subject, said I, and talk of Oviedo. You have been in the
Asturias. How did you leave my mother? Ah, sir! replied he, with an
undertaker’s decency of countenance, I have a melancholy tale to tell you from
that quarter. O heaven! exclaimed I, my mother then is dead! Six months
since, said my secretary, did the good lady pay the debt of nature, and your
uncle, Signor Gil Perez, about the same period.
My mother’s death preyed upon my susceptible nature, though in my child-
hood I had not received from her those little fondling indications of maternal
love, so necessary to amalgamate with the more serious convictions of filial duty.
The good canon, too, came in for his share in bringing me up according to the
ZL
410 GIL BLAS.
rules of godliness and honesty. My serious grief was not lasting: but I never
lost sight of a certain tender recollection, whenever the idea of my dear relations
shot across my mind,
Cu. 1X.—How my lord duke married his only daughter, and to whom: with
the bitter consequences of that marriage.
Very shortly after the son of Coselina’s return, my lord duke fell into a brown
study, and it lasted a complete week. I conceived, of course, that he was
brooding over some great measure of government; but family concerns were
the object of his musings, Gil Blas, said he one day after dinner, you may
perceive that my mind is a good deal distracted. Yes, my good friend, I am
ondering over an affair of the utmost consequence to my feelings. You shall
now all about it.
My daughter, Donna Maria, pore’ he, is marriageable, and of course beset
with suitors. The Count de Niéblés, eldest son of the Duke de Medina Sidonia,
head of the Guzman family, and Don Lewis de Haro, eldest son of the Mar-
quis de Carpio and my eldest sister, are the two most likely competitors. The
latter in particular is superior in point of merit to all his rivals, so that the
whole court has fixed on him for my son-in-law. Nevertheless, without enter-
ing into private motives for treating him, as well as the Count de Niéblés, with
a refusal, my present views are fixed upon Don Ramires Nunez de Guzman,
Marquis of Toral, head of the Guzmans d’Abrados, another branch of the
family. To that nobleman and his progeny by my daughter I mean to leave all
my property, and to entail on them the title of Count d’Olivarez, with the
additional dignity of grandee ; so that my grandchildren and their descendants,
issue of the Abrados and Olivarez branch, will be considered as taking prece-
dence in the house of Guzman.
Tell me now, Santillane, added he, do you not like my project ? Excuse me,
my lord, pleaded I, with a shrug, the design is worthy of the genius which gave
birth to it: my only fear is, lest the Duke of Medina Sidonia should think fit
to be out of humour at it. Let him take it as he list, resumed the minister; I
give myself very little concern about that. His branch is no favourite with me:
they have choused that of Abrados out of their precedence and many of their
privileges. I shall be far less affected by his ill humours than by the disap-
pointment of my sister, the Marchioness de Carpio, when she sees my daughter
slip through her son’s fingers. But let that be as it may. Iam determined to
please myself, and Don Ramires shall be the man; it is a settled point.
My lord duke, having announced this firm resolve, did not carry it into effect
without giving a new proof of his singular policy. He presented a memorial to
the king, entreating him and the queen in concert, to do him the honour of
taking the choice of a husband for his daughter on themselves, at the same
time acquainting them with the pretensions of the suitors, and professing to
abide by their election; but he took care, when naming the Marquis de Toral,
to evince clearly whither his own wishes pointed. The king, therefore, with a
blind deference for his minister, answered thus: ‘‘I think that Don Ramires
Nunez deserves Donna Maria: but determine for yourself. The match of your
own choosing Will be most agreeable to me.” (Signed ) THE KING.
The minister made a point of shewing this answer everywhere ; and affecting
to consider it as a royal mandate, hastened his daughter’s marriage with the
Marquis de Toral ; a death-blow to the hopes of the Marchioness de Carpio,
and the rest of the Guzmans who had been speculating on an alliance with
Donna Maria. These rival players of a losing game, not being able to break
off the match, put the best face they could upon it, and made the fashion-
®
DEATH OF THE DAUGHTER OF OLIVAREZ. 4lI
able world to resound with their costly celebrations of the event. A superficial
observer might have fancied that the whole family was delighted with the
arrangement; but the pouters and ill-wishers were soon revenged most cruelly
at my lord duke’s expense. Donna Maria was brought to bed of a daughter at
the end of ten months; the infant was still-born, and the mother died a few
day afterwards.
What a loss for a father who had no eyes, as one may say, but for his
daughter, and in her loss felt the miscarriage of his design to quash the right
of precedence in the branch of Medina Sidonia! Stung to the quick by his
misfortune, he shut himself up for several days, and was visible to no one but
myself ; a sincere sympathiser, from the recollection of my own experience in
his sorrow. The occasion drew forth fresh tears to Antonia’s memory. The
death of the Marchioness de Toral, under circumstances so similar, tore open
a wound imperfectly skinned over, and so exasperated my affliction, that the
minister, though he had enough to do with his own sufferings, could not help
taking notice of mine. It seemed unaccountable how exactly his feelings were
echoed. Gil Blas, said he one day, when my tears seemed to feed upon indul-
gence, my greatest consolation consists in having a bosom friend so much alive
to all my distresses. Ah! my lord, answered I, giving him the full credit of
my amiable tenderness, I must be ungrateful and degenerate in my nature if I
did not lament as for myself. Can I be aware that you mourn over a daughter
of accomplished merit, whom you loved so tenderly, without shedding tears
of fellow-feeling! No, my lord, I am too much naturalized to you on the
side of obligation, not to take a permanent interest in all your pleasures and
disappointments.
Cu. X.—Gil Blas meets with the poet Nunez by accident, and learns that he has
written a tragedy, which is on the point of being brought out at the theatre
royal. The wl fortune of the piece, and the good fortune of its author.
THE minister began to pick up his crumbs, and myself consequently to get
into feather again, when one evening I went out alone in the carriage to take
an airing. On the road I met the poet of the Asturias, who had been lost to
my knowledge ever since his discharge from the hospital. He was very de-
cently dressed. I called him up, gave him a seat in my carriage, and we drove
together to Saint Jerome’s meadow.
Master Nunez, said I, it is lucky for me to have met you accidentally; for
otherwise I should not have had the pleasure... . No severe speeches, San-
tillane, interrupted he with considerable eagerness: I must own frankly that I
did not mean to keep up your acquaintance, and I will tell you the reason.
You promised me a good situation provided I abjured poetry, but I have found
a very excellent one, on condition of keeping my talents in constant play. I
accepted the latter alternative, as squaring best with my own humour. A
friend of mine got me an employment under Don Bertrand Gomez del Ribero,
treasurer of the king’s galleys. This Don Bertrand, wanting to have a wit in
his pay, and finding my turn for poetical composition very much in unison with
his own sense of what is excellent, has chosen me in preference to five or six
authors who offered themselves as candidates for the place of his private
secretary.
I am delighted at the news, my dear Fabricio, said I, for this Don Bertrand
must be very rich. Rich indeed! answered he; they say that he does not
know himself how much he is worth. However that may be, my business
under him is as follows. He prides himself on his turn for gallantry, at the
same time wishing to pass for a man of genius: he therefore keeps up an epis-
412 GIL BLAS.
tolary intercourse of wit with several ladies who have an infinite deal, and
borrows my brain to indite such letters as may amplify the opinion of his
sprightliness and elegance. I write to one for him in verse, to another in
prose, and sometimes carry the letters myself, to prove the agility of my heels
as well as the ingenuity of my head.
But you do not tell me, said I, what I most want to know. Are you well
paid for your epigrammatic cards of compliment? Yes, most plentifully, an-
swered he. Rich men are not always open-handed; and I know some who are
downright curmudgeons; but Don Bertrand has behaved in the most handsome
manner. Besides a salary of two hundred pistoles, I receive some little occa-
sional perquisites from him, sufficient to set me above the world, and enable me
to live on an equal footing with some choice spirits of the literary circles, who
are willing, like myself, to set care at defiance. But then, resumed I, has
your treasurer critical skill enough to distinguish the beauties of a performance
from its blemishes? The least likely man in the world, answered Nunez: a
flippant-tongued smatterer, with a miserable assortment of materials for judging.
Vet he gives himself out for chief justice and lord president of Apollo’s cent
His decisions are adventurous, if not always lucky; while his opinions are
maintained in so high a tone and with so bullying a challenge of infallibility,
that nine times out of ten the issue of an argument is silence, though not con-
viction, on the part of the opponent, as a measure of precaution against the
gathering storm of foul language and contemptuous sneers.
You may readily suppose, continued he, that I take especial care never to
contradict him, though it almost exceeds human patience to forbear: for, to
say nothing of the unpalatable phrases that might be hailed down on my de-
fenceless head, I should stand a very good chance of being shoved by the
shoulders out of doors. I therefore am discreet enough to approve what he
praises, and to condemn without mitigation or appeal whatever he is pleased to
find fault with. By this easy compliance, for poets are compelled to acquire a
knack of knocking under to those by whom they live, not even excepting their
booksellers, I have gained the esteem and friendship of my patron. He has
employed me to write a tragedy on a plot of his own. I have executed it
under his inspection; and if the piece succeeds, a per centage. on the laud and
honour must accrue to him.
I asked our poet what was the title of his tragedy. He informed me that
it was ** The Count of Saldagna,” and that it would come out in two or three
days. I told him that I wished it all possible success, and thought so favour-
ably of his genius, as to entertain considerable hopes. So do I, said he, but
hope never tells a more flattering tale than in the ear of a. dramatic author.
You might as well attempt to fix the wind by nailing the weathercock, as
speculate on the reception of a new piece with an audience.
At engie the day of performance arrived. I could not go to the play, being
prevented by official business. The only thing to be done was to send Scipio,
that he might bring me back word how it went off; for I was sincerely in-
terested in the event. After waiting impatiently for his return, in he came
with a long face which boded no good. Well, said I, how was ‘‘ The Count
of Saldagna” welcomed by the critics? Very roughly, answered he; never
was there a play more brutally handled; I left the house in high anger at the
injustice and insolence of the pit. It serves him right, rejoined I. Nunez is
no better than a madman, to be always running his head against the stone
walls of a theatre. If he was in his senses, could he have preferred the hisses
and catcalls of an unfeeling mob, to the ease and dignity he might have com-
manded under my patronage? Thus did I inveigh with friendly vehemence
against the poet of the Asturias, and disturb the even tenor of my mind for an
FABRICIO GAINS A PENSION. 413
event, which the sufferer hailed with joy, and inserted among the well-omened
particulars of his journal.
He came to see me within two days, and appeared in high spirits, Santil-
lane, cried he, I am come to receive your congratulations, My fortune is
made, my friend, though my play is marred. »You know what a mistake they
made on the first and last night of ‘* The Count of Saldagna ;” hissed instead
of applauding! You would have thought all the wild beasts of the forest had
been let loose, with their ears fortified against’ ihe softening power of poetry:
but the more they bellowed, the better I fared, and they have roared me into a
provision for life.
There was no knowing what to make of this incident in the drama of our
poet’s adventures. What is all this, Fabricio? said I: how can theatrical
damnation have conjured up such Elysian ecstacy? It is exactly so, answered
he: I told you before that Don Bertrand had thrown in some of the circum-
stances; and he was fully convinced that there was no defect but in the taste
of the spectators. They might be very good judges; but, if they were, he was
no judge at all! Nunez! said he this morning ;
Victrix causa Diis placuit, sed victa Catoni.*
Your piece has been ill-received by the public; but against that you may place
my entire approbation ; and thus you oughit to set your heart at rest. By way
of something to balance the bad taste of the age, I shall settle an annuity of
two thousand crowns on you: go to my solicitor, and let him draw the deed.
We have been about it: the treasurer has signed and sealed; my first quarter
is paid in advance.....
I wished Fabricio joy on the unhappy fate of ‘‘The Count of Saldagna,”»,
and probably most authors would have envied his failure more than all the
success that ever succeeded. You are in the right, continued he, to prefer my
fortune to my fame. What a lucky peal of disapprobation in double choir! If
the public had chosen to ring the changes on my merits rather than my mis-
deeds, what would they have done for my pocket? A mere paltry nothing.
The common pay of the theatre might have kept me from starving; but
the wind of popular malice has blown me a comfortable pension, engrossed on
safe and legal parchment.
Cu. XI.—Santillane gives Scipio a situation: the latter sets out for New Spain.
My secretary could not look at the unexpected good luck of Nunez the poet
without envy: he talked of nothing else for a week. The whims of that bag-
gage, Fortune, said he, are most unaccountable: she delights to turn her lottery
wheel into the lap of a sorry author, while she deals out her disappointments
like a step-mother to the race of good ones. I should have no objection,
though, if she would throw me up a prize in one of her vertical progresses.
That is likely enough to happen, said I, and sooner than you imagine. Here
you are in her tempie; for it is scarcelytoo presumptuous to call the house of a
prime minister the temple of Fortune, where favours are conferred by wholesale,
and votaries grow fat on the spoils of her altar. That is very true, sir, an-
* Members of parliament, and the ladies, will probably expect a translation
of these hard words; but I refer the former to their dictionaries, to which they
bade a long farewell on leaving Eton or Harrow; and the latter to an extended
paraphrase of five acts in the tragedy of Cato. Those of the softer sex who
may think the Stoic philosophy rude and uncouth, will feel their nerves vibrate
in unison with the love scenes. —77anslator.
414 GIL BLAS.
swered he; but we must have patience, and wait till the happy moment comes.
Take my advice while it is worth having, Scipio, repli , and make your
mind easy: perhaps you are on the eve of some good appointment. And so it
turned out; for within a few days an opportunity offered of employing him ad-
vantageously in my lord duke’s service; and I did not suffer the happy mo-
ment to pass by.
I was engaged in chat one morning with Don Raymond Caporis, the prime
minister’s steward, and our conversation turned on the sources of his excel-
lency’s income. My lord, said he, enjoys the commanderies of all the military
orders, yielding a revenue of forty thousand crowns a year; and he is only
obliged to wear the cross of Alcantara. Moreover, his three offices of great
chamberlain, master of the horse, and high chancellor of the Indies, bring him
in an income of two hundred thousand crowns; and yet all this is nothing in
comparison of the immense sums which he receives through other transatlantic
channels ; but you will be puzzled to guess how. When vessels clear out from
Seville or Lisbon for those parts of the world, he ships wine, oil, gram, and
other articles, the produce of his own estate; and his consignments are duty
free. With that perquisite in his pocket, he sells his merchandise for four
times its current price in Spain, and then lays out the money in spices, colour-
ing materials, and other things which cost next to nothing in the new world,
and are sold very dear in Europe. Already has he realized some millions by
this traffic, without detracting from the dues of his royal master.
You will easily account for it, continued he, that the people concerned in
carrying on this trade return with great fortunes in their pockets ; for my lord
thinks it but reasonable that they should divide their diligence between his
business and their own.
That shrewd son of chance and opportunity, of whom we are speaking, over-
heard our conversation, and could not help interrupting Don Raymond to the
following purport. Upon my word, Signor Caporis, I should like to be one
of those people; for I am fond of travelling, and have long wished to see
Mexico. Your inclinations as a tourist shall soon be gratified, said the
steward, if Signor de Santillane will not stand in the way of your wishes.
However particular I may think it my duty to be about the persons whom I
send to the West Indies in that capacity, and they are all of my appointment,
you shall be placed on the list at all adventures, if your master wicks it. You
will confer on me a particular favour, said I to Don Raymond; be so good as
to do it in kindness to me. Scipio is a young fellow much in my good graces,
very capable in business, and will be found irreproachable in his conduct. In
a word, I would as soon answer for him as myself.
That being the case, replied Caporis, he has only to repair immediately to
Seville: the ships are to sail for South America ina month, I shall give him
a letter at his departure for a man who will put him in the way of pee | a
fortune, without the slightest interference in his excellency’s dues and profits,
which ought to be held sacred by him.
Scipio, delighted with his berth, was in haste to set out for Seville with a
thousand crowns with which I furnished him, to make purchases of wine and oil
in Andalusia, and enable him to trade on his own bottom in the West Indies.
And yet, overjoyed as he was to make a voyage, and as he hoped his fortune
therewithal, he could not part from me without tears : and the separation raised
the waters even from my dry fountains.
DON ALPHONSO DEPRIVED OF HIS GOVERNMENT. 415
Cu. XIIl.—Don Alphonso de Leyva comes to Madrid ; the motive of his journey
@ severe affiiction to Gil Blas, and a cause of rejoicing subsequent thereon.
No sooner had I parted with Scipio than one of the minister’s pages brought
me a note conceived in the following terms: ‘‘ If Signor de Santillane will take
the trouble of calling at the sign of Saint Gabriel, in the street of Toledo, he
will there see a friend who is not indifferent to him.”
Who can this nameless friend possibly be? said I to myself. What can be
the meaning of all this mystery ? Obviously to occasion me the pleasure of a
surprise. I attended the summons immediately, and on my arrival at the place
appointed, was not a little astonished to find Don Alphonso de Leyva there.
Is it possible! exclaimed I: you here, my lord? Yes, my dear Gil Blas, an-
swered he with a close compression of my hand in his, it is Don Alphonso him-
self. Well! but what brings you to Madrid? said I. You will be not a little
startled, rejoined he, and no less vexed at the occasion of my journey. They
have taken my government of Valencia from me, and the prime minister has
sent for me to give an account of my conduct. For a whole quarter of an hour
I was like a man stupified ; then recovering the powers of speech: Of what,
said I, are you accused? I know nothing at all about it, answered he; but my
disgrace is probably owing to a visit paid about three weeks ago to the Cardinal
Duke of Lerma, who was banished about a month since to his seat at Denia.
Yes, indeed ! cried I in a pet, you may well attribute your misfortune to that
imprudent visit : there is no occasion to look out for causes and effects else-
where ; but give me leave to say that you have not acted with your usual good
sense, in claiming acquaintance with that favourite out of favour. The leap is
taken, and the neck broken, said he ; and I have nothing to do but to make
the best out of a bad bargain : I shall retire with my family to our paternal
estate at Leyva, where the remnant of my days will glide away in peace and
obscurity. What taunts and teases me, is the requisition of appearing before a
haughty minister, who may receive me with all the insolence of office. How
humiliating to the pride of a Spaniard! And yet it is a measure of necessity ;
but before the degrading ceremony took place, I wanted to talk it over with
you. Sir, said I, do not announce your arrival to the minister, till I have as-
certained the nature of the reports to your discredit ; for there are few evils
without a remedy. Whatever may be your alleged crimes, you will give me
leave, if you please, to act in the affair as gratitude and friendship shall dictate.
With this assurance, I left him at his inn, and promised to let him hear from
me soon.
As I had taken no active part in state affairs since the two memorials, in
which my eloquence was so signally displayed, I went to look for Carnero, with
a view to inquire whether Don Alphonso’s government was really taken from
him. He answered in the affirmative, but professed not to know the reason.
Finding how things stood, I determined to apply at head-quarters, and to learn
the grounds of grievance from his lordship’s own mouth.
My spirits were really harassed ; so that there was no need of putting on
the trappings and the suits of woe, to attract my lord duke’s notice. What is
the matter, Santillane? said he, as soon as he saw me. I perceive a marked
unhappiness on your countenance, and tears just ready to trickle down your
cheeks. Has any one behaved ill to you? Tell me, and you shall have your
revenge. My lord, answered I, in a melancholy tone, even though my grief
would seek to hide itself, it must have vent : my despair is past endurance. The
report goes that Don Alphonso is no longer Governor of Valencia ; a severer
stroke could not have been inflicted on me. What say you, Gil Blas? replied
416 SCH GI, BENS
the minister in astonishment : what interest can you take in this Don Alphonso
and his government? On this question, I detailed at length my obligations to
the Lords of Leyva, and modestly stated my own interference with the Duke of
Lerma, to obtain the appointment for my friend.
When his excellency had heard me through with the most polite and kind
attention, he spoke thus: Make yourself easy, Gil Blas. Besides my entire
ignorance of what you have just told me, I must own that I considered Don
Alphonso as the cardinal’s creature. Only put yourself in my place: was not
the visit to his eminence a most suspicious circumstance? Yet I am willing to
believe that owing his preferment to that minister, he might have remembered
him in his adversity from a motive of pure gratitude. I am sorry for having
displaced a man who owed his elevation to you ; but if I have pulled down your
handiwork I can build it up again. I mean to do still more than the Duke of
Lerma for you. Your friend Don Alphonso was only Governor of Valencia ;
I appoint him Viceroy of Arragon : you may send him word so yourself, and
order him hither to take the oaths.
At these words, my feelings changed from extreme grief to an excess of joy,
which completely caricatured the mediocrity of common sense, and made me
utter an incoherent rhapsody of thanks : but the want of method in the madness
of my discourse was not taken amiss ; and on my hinting that Don Alphonso
was already at Madrid, he told me that I might present him this very day. I
ran to the sign of Saint Gabriel, and communicated my own raptures to Don
Ceesar’s son, by informing him of his new appointment. He could not believe
what I told him ; but found ita hard matter to persuade himself, that the prime
minister, though likely enough to be very well disposed towards me, should ex-
tend his friendship so far as to dispose of viceroyalties at my instance. I carried
him with me to my lord duke, who received him very affably, complimented
him on his uniform good conduct in his government of Valencia, and finished
by saying that the king, considering him as js eg for a higher station, had
named him for the viceroyalty of Arragon. Besides, added he, your family is
of a rank not to disparage the dignity of the office ; so that the Arragonese no-
bility will have no plea for excepting against the choice of the court.
His excellency made no mention of me, and the public was kept in the dark
as to my share in the business ; indeed, this prudent silence was lucky both for
Don Alphonso and the minister, since the tongues of defamers would have been
busy in taking to pieces the pretensions of a viceroy who owed his preferment
to my patronage,
As soon as Don Ceesar’s son could speak with certainty of his new honours,
he sent off an express for Valencia with the information to his father and Sera-
phina, who soon arrived in Madrid. Their first object was to find me out, and
ply me thick and threefold with acknowledgments. What a proud and affecting
sight for me, to behold the three persons in the world nearest my heart, vying
with each other in their testimonies of affection and gratitude ! The pleasure my
zeal seemed personally to give them, was equal to the dignity conferred on their
house by the post of viceroy. They even talked with me on a footing of equal-
ity, and scarcely remembered my original distance or servitude in the fervour
of their present feelings. But not to dwell on unnecessary topics, Don Alphon-
so having taken the oaths and returned thanks, left Madrid with his family, to
take ig abode at Saragossa. He made his public entry with appropriate
magnificence ; and the Arragonese caused it to appear, by their cordial recep-
tion, that I had a very pretty knack at picking out a viceroy,
GIL BLAS MEETS COGOLLOS' AND TORDESILLAS. 417
Cu. XIII.—Gil Blas meets Don Gaston de Cogollosand Don Andrew de Torde-
sillas at the drawing-room, and adjourns with them to a moreconvenient place.
The story of Don Gaston and Donna Helena de Galisteo concluded, Santillane
renders some service to Tordesillas.
I wASs up to the hilts in joy at having so marvellously metamorphosed an ex-
governor into a viceroy ; the Lords of Leyva themselves were not primed and
loaded so near to bursting. But very soon I had another opportunity of em-
ploying my credit in the beaten track of friendship ; and there is the more oc-
casion to quote these instances, that my readers may clearly discern with how
different a man they are in company, from that graceless Gil Blas who, under
the former ministry, carried on a shameless traffic in the honours and emolu-
ments of the state.
One day I was waiting in the king’s ante-chamber, in conversation with some
noblemen, who, knowing me to stand well with the prime minister, were not
ashamed of taking me by the hand. In the crowd was Don Gaston de Cogollos,
whom I had left a prisoner in the tower of Segovia. He was with Don An-
drew de Tordesillas, the warden. I readily quitted my company to go and
renew my acquaintance with my two friends. If they were astonished at the
sight of me, I was no less so to find them here. After mutual greetings, Don
Gaston said: Signor de Santillane, we have many inquiries to make of each
other, and this place affords little opportunity for private intercourse ; allow me
to request your company where we may open our hearts freely. I made no
objection ; we pushed our way through the crowd, and left the palace. Don
Gaston’s carriage was ready waiting in the street ; we all three got into it, and
drove to the great market-place, where the bull-fights are exhibited. There
Cogollos lived in a very handsome house.
Signor Gil Blas, said Don Andrew on our entrance, at your departure from
Segovia you seemed to have conceived a thorough hatred against the court, and
to have formed a settled purpose of abandoning it for ever. Such was, in fact,
my design, answered I; nor were my sentiments at all changed during the
lifetime of the late king ; but when the prince his son came to the throne, I
had a mind to see whether the new monarch would know me again. He did
so, and received me favourably, with a strong recommendation to the prime
minister, who admitted me to his friendship, and took me more into his confi-
dence than ever did the Duke of Lerma. This, Signor Don Andrew, is my
story. And now tell me whether you still hold your office in the tower of Se-
govia. No, indeed! answered he; my lord duke has removed me, and put
another inmy room. He probably considered me as entirely devoted to his
predecessor. And I, said Don Gaston, was set.at liberty for the contrary rea-
son ; the prime minister was no sooner informed that my imprisonment was by
the Duke of Lerma’s order, than he ordered me to be released. The present
business, Signor Gil Blas, is to relate the subsequent particulars of my adven-
tures.
The first thing I did, continued he, after thanking Don Andrew for his kind
attentions during my confinement, was to repair to Madrid. I presented myself
before the Count Duke of Olivarez, who said : You need not be apprehensive
of any blemish on your character in consequence of your late misfortune; you
are honourably acquitted: nay, your innocence is so much the more satisfactorily
established, as the Marquis of Villareal, with whom you were supposed to be
implicated, was not guilty. Though a Portuguese, and related to the Duke of
Braganza, he is less in his interests than in those of the king my master. That
connection, therefore, ought not to have been imputed to you as a erime; but,
418 GIL BLAS.
to repair your wrongs, the king has given you a lieutenant’s commission in the
Spanish guards, This I accepted, begging it as a favour of his excellency to
allow me, before I joined my regiment, to go and see my aunt, Donna Eleonora
de Laxarilla, at Coria. The minister gave me leave of absence for a month,
and I departed with only one servant.
We had got beyond Colmenar, and were threading a narrow pass between
two mountains, when we came within sight of a gentleman defending himself
bravely against three men, who all fell upon him together. I did not hesitate
about going to his aid; but hastened forward and planted myself by his side.
I remarked while we were fighting, that our enemies were masked, and that we
had to do with expert swordsmen. But we triumphed over the united ad-
vantages of their skill and disparity. I ran one of the three through the body ;
he fell from his horse, and the two others immediately betook themselves to
flight. The victory indeed was scarcely less fatal to us than to the wretch
whom I had killed, for we were both dangerously wounded. But conceive my
surprise, when I discovered the gentleman to be Combados, the husband of
Donna Helena. He was no less astonished at recognizing me as his defender.
Ah, Don Gaston ! exclaimed he, was it you, then, who came to my assistance?
When you took my part so generously, you little thought it was the person who
had snatched your mistress from you. I really did not know it, answered I;
but though I had, do you think I could have wavered about doing as I have
done? Can you entertain so ill an opinion of me, as to believe my soul so sordid?
No, no, replied he; I think better of you; and should I die of my wounds, it
will be my prayer that yours may not disable you from profiting by my death,
Combados, said I, though I have not yet forgotten Donna Helena, know that
I do not pant after the possession of her charms at the expense of your life; so
far from it, that I congratulate myself on having contributed to your rescue
from assassination, since by so doing I have performed an acceptable service to
your wife,
While we were communing together, my servant dismounted ; and drawing
near to the gentleman stretched at his length, took off his mask, when Com-
bados, with sensations of gratitude for his deliverance, distinctly traced the
features. It is Caprara, exclaimed he; that treacherous cousin who, in mere
disgust at having missed a rich inheritance which he had unjustly disputed with
me, has long since cherished a murderous design against my life, and fixed on
this day to put it in execution; but heaven has turned him over to its determined
vengeance, and made him the victim of his own attempt.
While this conversation was going on,.our blood was flowing at the same
rate, and we were becoming more usted every minute. Nevertheless, dis-
abled as we were, we had strength enough to reach the town of Villaréjo,
which lies within gun-shot or two from the field of battle. At the very first
house of call we sent for surgeons. The most expert came at our summons,
He examined our wounds, and reported them as dangerous. After taking off
the bandages and dressing them a second time, he pronounced those of Don Blas
to be mortal. Of mine he thought more favourably, and the event corresponded
with his prognostic.
Combados, finding himself consigned to the grave, thought only of due pre-
paration for a most serious event. He sent an express to his wife, with an ac-
count for what had happen articularizing his present sad condition, Donna
Helena soon arrived at Villaréjo. Her mind was drawn different ways by two
opposite occasions of distress; the hazard of her husband’s life, and the fear of
feeling the revival of a half-extinguished flame at the sight of me. This sight
occasioned her to experience a terrible agitation. Madam, said Don Blas, when
she appeared in his presence, you are come just in time to receive my farewell,
COGOLLOS MARRIES DONNA HELENA. 419
I am at the point of death, and I consider my fate as a punishment from heaven
for having taken you from Don Gaston by a feint: far from murmuring at it, I
exhort you with my last breath to restore to hima heart which I had stolen
from him. Donna Helena answered him only by her tears: and indeed it was
the best answer she could make; for she had neither forgotten her first love,
nor the artifices whereby she had been influenced to renounce her plighted
faith.
It happened as the surgeon had anticipated, that in less than three days
Combados died of his wounds, while mine on the contrary wore the appear-
ance of convalescence. The young widow, whom no earthly considerations
could detach from the care of transporting her late husband’s remains to Coria,
that they might be deposited with due honours in the family vault, left Villa-
réjo on her return, after inquiring, merely as a matter of course, how I was going
on. As soon as I was well enough to be removed, I bent my course to Coria,
where my recovery was soon ascertained. My aunt, Donna Eleonora, and
Don George de Galisteo, were determined that my marriage with Helena should
take place forthwith, lest some new caprice of fortune should part us once more.
The ceremony was privately performed, on account of the late melancholy event,
and within a few days I returned to Madrid with Donna Helena. As my leave
of absence had expired, I was afraid lest the minister should have superseded
me in my lieutenancy; but he had not filled up the vacancy, and received my
apologies very graciously.
Thus am I, continued Cogollos, lieutenant of the Spanish guards, and my
situation is exactly to my mind. The circle of my friends is respectable and
pleasant, and I live at my ease among them. Would I could say as much! ex-
claimed Don Andrew: but I am very far from being satisfied with my lot; I
have lost my appointment, which was not without its advantages, and have no
friends of sufficient interest to procure me a better berth. Excuse me, Signor
Don Andrew, cried I, with a sort of upbraiding smile, you have a friend in me
who may chance to be better than no friend at all. I have told you already
that I am a greater favourite with my lord duke than with the Duke of Lerma ;
and will you tell me to my face that you have no interest at court? Have you
not already experienced the contrary? Recollect that, through the archbishop
of Grenada’s powerful recommendation, I procured you a nomination for Mexico,
where you would have made your fortune, if love had not stepped in and mar-
red it at Alicant. My means are now more extensive, since I have the ear of
the prime minister. I give myself up to you then, replied Tordesillas; but do
not send me into New Spain, though the first appointment in the colonies were
at your disposal.
Here we were interrupted by Donna Helena, who came into the room, and
improved even upon the visions of my fancy by the reality of her charms. Co-
gollos introduced me as the companion who had solaced the tedious hours of his
imprisonment. Yes, madam, said I to Donna Helena, my conversation did indeed
soothe his sorrows, for it turned on you. The compliment was not thrown
away, and I took my leave with repeated congratulations. With respect to
Tordesillas, I assured him that within a week he should know how far my power
as well as will extended.
Nor were these mere words. On the very next day, the opportunity occurred.
Santillane, said his excellency, the place of governor in the royal prison of Val-
ladolid is vacant: it is worth more than three hundred pistoles a year; and is
yours if you will accept of it. Not if it were worth ten thousand ducats, an-
swered I, for it would carry me away from your lordship. But, replied the
minister, you may fill it by deputy, and only visit occasionally. That is as it
may be, rejoined I; but I shall only accept it on condition of resigning in favour
*
2
420 GIL BLAS.
of Don Andrew de Tordesillas, a brave and loyal gentleman; I should like to
give him this place in acknowlédgment of his kindness to me in the tower of
Segovia.
i This plea made the minister laugh heartily, andsay: As far asTI see, Gil Blas,
you mean to make yourself a general patron. Even so be it, my friend ; the
vacancy is yours for Tordesillas ; but tell me unfeignedly what fellow-feeling
you have in the business, for you are not such a fool as to throw away your in-
terest for nothing. My lord, answered I, Don Andrew charged me nothing for
all his acts of friendship, and should not a man repay his obligations? You
are become highly moral and self-mortified, replied his excellency ; rather more
so than under the last administration. Precisely so, rejoined I; then evil
communication corrupted my principles ; bargain and sale were the order of the
day, and I conformed to the established practice : now, all preferment is allotted
on the footing of a meritorious free gift, and my integrity shall not be the last
to fall in with the fashion.
Cu. XIV.—Santillane’s visit to poet Nunez, the company and conversation.
ONE day, after dinner, a fancy seized me to go and see the poet of the Asturias,
feeling a sort of curiosity to know on what floor he lodg I repaired to the
house of Signor Don Bertrand Gomez del Ribero, and asked for Nunez. He
does not live here now, said the porter, but over the way, in apartments at the
back of the house. I went thither, and crossing a small court, entered an un-
furnished parlour, where my friend Fabricio was sitting at table, doing the
honours to five or six guests from the hamlet and liberty of Parnassus,
They were at the latter end of a feast, and of course at the beginning of an
affray ; but as soon as they perceived me, a dead silence succeeded to their
obstreperous argumentation. Nunez rose from his seat with much pomp and
circumstance of politeness to receive me, saying: Gentlemen, Signor de Santil-
lane! He does methe honour to visit me under this humble roof; as the
favourite of the prime minister, you will all join with me in tendering your
humble services. At this introduction, the worshipful company got up and
made their best bows ; for my rank could not fail of procuring me respect from
the manufacturers of dedications. Though I was neither hungry nor thirsty, it
was impossible not to sit down and drink a toast in such society.
My presence appearing to be a restraint, Gentlemen, said J, it should seem that
I have interrupted your conversation: reSume it, or you drive me away. My
learned friends, said Fabricio, were discussing the ‘‘ Iphigenia” of Euripides.
The bachelor, Melchior de Villégas, a clever man of the first rank in the repub-
lic of letters, resumed the topic by asking Don Jacinto de Romerate which was
the point of interest in that tragedy. Don Jacinto ascribed it to the imminent
danger of Iphigenia. The bachelor contended, offering to prove his proposi-
tion by all the evidence admissible at the bar of logic or criticism, that the
danger of a trumpery girl had nothing to do with the real sympathy of that
affecting piece. What has to do with it then? bawled the old licentiate Gabriel
of Leon indignantly. It turns with the wind, replied the bachelor.
The whole company burst into a shout of laughter at this assertion, which
they were far from considering as serious ; and I myself thought that Melchior
had only launched it by way of adding the zest of wit to the severity of critical
discussion. But I was out in my calculation respecting the character of that
eminent scholar: he had not a grain of sprightliness or pleasantry in his whole
composition. Laugh as you please, gentlemen, replied he, very coolly; I
maintain that there is no circumstance but the wind, unless it be the weather-
cock, to interest, to strike, to rouse the passions of the spectator. Figure to
GIL BLAS VISITS THE POET NUNEZ. 421
yourselves a multitudinous army, assembled for the purpose of laying siege to
Troy; take into account the eager haste of the officers and common men to
carry their enterprise into execution, that they may return with their best legs
foremost into Greece, where they have left everything most dear to them, their
household gods, their wives and their children: all this while a mischievous
wind from the wrong quarter keeps them port-bound at Aulis, and, as it were,
drives a nail into the very head of the expedition; so that till better weather,
it was impossible to go and lay siege to Priam’s town. Wind and weather
therefore make up the interest of this tragedy. My good wishes are with the
Greeks : my whole faculties are wrapped up in the success of their design; the
sailing of their fleet is with me the only hinge of the fable, and I look at the’
danger of Iphigenia with somewhat of a self-interested complacency, because
by her death the winding up of the story into a brisk and favourable gale was
likely to be accelerated.
As soon as Villégas had finished his criticism, the laugh burst out more than
ever, at his expense. Nunez was sly enough to side with him, that a fairer
scope and broader mark might be presented to the shafts of malicious wit
which were let fly from all the quarters in the shipman’s card, at this poster of
the sea and land. But the bachelor, eyeing them all with sublime indifference
and supreme contempt, gave them to understand how low in the list of the
ignorant and vulgar they ranked in his estimation. Every moment did I expect
to see these vapouring spirits kindle into a blaze, and wage war against the
hairy honours of each other’s brainless skulls: but the joke was not carried to
that length; they confined their hostilities to opprobrious epithets, and took
their leave when they had eaten and drunk as much as they could get.
After their departure, I asked Fabricio why he had separated himself from
his treasurer, and whether they had quarrelled. Quarrelled! answered he:
Heaven defend me from such a misfortune! I am on better terms than ever
with Signor Don Bertrand, who gave his consent to my living apart from him:
here therefore I receive my friends, and take my pleasure with them unmolested.
You know very well that I am not of a temper to lay up treasutes for those
who aretocome after me; andas it happens luckily, Iam now in circumstances
to give my little classical entertainments every day. Iam delighted at it, my
dear Nunez, replied I, and once more wish you joy on the success of your last
tragedy: the great Lope, by his eight hundred dramatic pieces, never made a
quarter of the money which you have got by the damnation of your ‘‘ Count
de Saldagna.”
BOOK. THE TWELFTH.
Cu. 1.—Gil Blas sent to Toledo by the minister. The purpose of his journey
and its success.
For nearly a month his excellency had been saying to me every day: Santillane,
the time is approaching, when I shall call your choicest powers of address into
action; but the time that was coming never came. It is a long lane, however,
where there is no turning; and his excellency at length spoke to me nearly as
follows: They say that there is, in the company of comedians at Toledo, a
young actress of much note for her personal and professional fascinations ; it is
affirmed that she dances and sings like all the muses and graces put together,
and that the whole theatre rings with applause at her performance: to these
422 GIL BLAS.
perfections is added matchless and irresistible beauty. Such a star should only
shine within the circle of a court. The king has a taste for the stage, for
music, and for dancing: nor must he be debarred from the pleasure of seeing
and hearing such a prodigy. I have determined on sending you to Toledo,
that you may judge for yourself whether she really is so extraordinary an actress :
on your feeling of her merit my measures shall be taken; for I have unlimited
confidence in your discernment.
I undertook to bring his lordship a good account of this business, and made
my arrangements for setting out with one servant, but not in the minister’s
livery, by way of conducting matters more warily ; and that precaution relished
well with his excellency. On my arrival at Toledo, I had scarcely alighted at
the inn, when the landlord, taking me for some country gentleman, said:
Please your honour, you are probably come to be present at the august cere-
mony of an Auto da Fé to-morrow. I answered in the affirmative, the more
completely to mislead him, and keep my own counsel. You will see, replied
he, one of the prettiest processions you ever saw in your life: there are said to
be more than a hundred prisoners, and ten of them are to be roasted.
In good truth, next morning, before sun-rise, I heard all the bells in the
town peal merrily; and the design of their bob-majors was to acquaint the
people that the pastime was about to begin. Curious to see what sort of a
recreation it was, I dressed in a hurry, and posted to the scene of action. All
about that quarter, and along the streets where the procession was to
were scaffolds, on one of which I purchased a standing. The Dominicans
walked first, preceded by the banner of the Inquisition. These Christian fathers
were immediately followed by the hapless victims of the holy office, selected
for this day’s burnt-offering. These devoted wretches walked one by one, with
their head and feet bare, each of them with a taper in his hand, and a fiery,
not baptismal godfather by his side. Some had large yellow scapularies,
worked with crosses of St Andrew, in red; others wore sugar-loaf caps of
paper, illustrated with flames, and diabolical figures of all sorts by way of
emblem.
As I looked narrowly at these objects of religious gaze, with a.compassion in
my heart which might have been construed criminal, had it run over from*my
eyes, I fancied that the reverend Father Hilary and his companion brother
Ambrose were among those who figured in the sugar-loaf caps. They passed
too near for me to be deceived, What do I see? thought I inwardly: heaven,
wearied out with the wicked lives of these two scoundrels, has given them up
to the justice of the Inquisition! My whole frame trembled at the thought, and
my spirits were scarcely equal to support me from fainting. My connection with
these knaves, the adventure at Xelva, all our pranks in partnership rushed
upon my memory, and I did not know how sufficiently to thank God for having
preserved me from St Andrew’s crosses and the painted devils on the paper
caps.
When the ceremony was over, I returned to the inn, with my heart sick-
ening at the dreadful sight; but painful impressions soon wear away, and I
thought only of my commission and its due accomplishment. I waited with
impatience for play-time, as the moment and scene of my commencing opera-
tions. On the opening of the doors I repaired to the theatre, and took my
seat next to a knight of Alcantara. We soon got into chat. Sir, said I, the
players here have been represented to me in very favourable terms: may I give
credit to general report? The company is not contemptible, replied the knight:
they have some first-rate performers; among the rest, the peerless Lucretia,
an actress of fourteen, who will astonish you: and she plays one of her best
parts to-night.
THE INTERVIEW OF GIL BLAS WITH LAURA. 423
On the drawing up of the curtain, two actresses came on, with every advan-
tage of dress and stage effect: but neither of them could possibly be the object
of my search. At length Lucretia made her appearance at the back scene, and
walked forwards amidst a thunder of applause. Ah! this is she, indeed!
thought I? and a delicate specimen of loveliness, as I am a sinner! In her
very first speech she proved herself a child of nature, with energy and concep-
tion far above her years; and the approbation of a provincial audience was
confirmed by my metropolitan judgment. The knight was happy to find I
liked her, and assured me that if I had heard her sing, my ears might have
rejoiced to the sorrow of myheart. Her dancing, too, he represented as not less
formidable to the free will of lordly man. I inquired what youth, blessed as
the immortal gods, had the exquisite happiness of bringing himself to beggary
for so sweet a girl. She is under no avowed protection, said he; and scandal
has not coupled her name with private licence; but Lucretia must take care of
herself, for she is under the wing of her aunt Estella; and there is not an actress
in.the company so warmly fledged for hatching the tender passions into life.
At the name of Estella, I inquired with some eagerness who she was. One
of our best performers, said my informant. She does not play to-night, to our
great loss, for her cast is that of abigails, and she humours them to perfection.
A little too broad, perhaps, but that is a fault on the right side. From the
features of the description, there could be no doubt but this must be Laura ;
that lady so notorious in these memoirs, whom I left at Grenada.
To make assurance doubly sure, I went behind the scenes after the play.
There she was, in the green-room, flirting with some men of fashion, who pro-
bably endured the aunt for the sake of the niece. I came up to pay my devo-
tions ; but whim, or perhaps revenge for my cutting and running from Grenada,
determined her to put on the stranger, and receive my compliments with so
discouraging a coldness, as to throw me into some little confusion. Instead of
laughing it off, I was fool enough to be angry, and withdrew in a choleric
determination to return next day. Laura shall smart for this! said I; her
niece shall not appear at court; I will tell the minister that she dances like a
she bear, has formed her évavura between the scream of a pea-hen and the
cackle of a goose, acts like a puppet, and comprehends like an idiot.
Such was my scheme of revenge, but it proved abortive. Just as I was going
out of town, a footboy brought me the following note: ‘‘ Forget and forgive,
and follow the bearer.” I obeyed, and found Laura at her dressing-table in
very elegant apartments near the theatre.
he rose to welcome me, saying : Signor Gil Blas, you have every reason to
be offended at your reception behind the scenes, which was out of character
between such old friends, but I really was most abominably disconcerted. Just
as you came up, one of our gentlemen had brought me some scandalous stories
about my niece, whose honour has always been dearer to me than my own.
On coming to myself, I immediately sent my servant to find you out, with the
intention of making you amends to-day. You have done so already, my dear
Laura, said I, let us therefore talk over old times. You may remember that I
left you in a very ticklish predicament, when conscience and the fear of punish-
ment drove me so precipitately from Grenada. How did you get off with your
Portuguese lover? Easily enough, answered Laura: do not you know that in
those cases men are mere fools, and acquit us women without even calling for
our defence ?
I faced the Marquis of Marialva out, that you were my very brother, and
drew upon my impudence for the support of my credit. Do you not see, said
I to my Portuguese dupe, that this is all the contrivance of jealousy and rage?
My rival, Narcissa, infuriated at my possession of a heart which she had vainly
424 GIL BLAS.
attempted to gain, has bribed the candle-snuffer to assert that he has seen me
as Arsenia’s waiting-woman at Madrid. It is an abominable falsehood ; the
widow of Don Antonio Coello has always been too high in her notions, to be
the hanger-on of a theatrical mistress. Besides, what completely disproves the
whole allegation, is my brother’s precipitate retreat: if he were here, it would
be a subject of evidence ; but Narcissa must have devised some stratagem to
get him out of the way.
These reasons, continued Laura, were not the most convincing in the world,
but they did very well for the marquis ; and that good, easy nobleman conti-
nued his confidence till his return to Portugal. This happened soon after your
departure ; and Zapata’s wife had the pleasure of seeing me lose what she could
not win. After this, I stayed some years longer at Grenada, till the company
was broken up in consequence of some squabbles, which will take place in
mimic as well as in real life : some went to Seville, others to Cordova ; and I
came to Toledo, where I have been for these ten years with my niece Lucretia,
whose performance you must have seen last night.
This was too much to be taken gravely. Laura inquired why I laughed.
Can that be a question? said I. You have neither brother nor sister, one or
other of which is a necessary ingredient in an aunt. Besides, when I calculate
in my mind the lapse of time since our last separation, and compare that period
with the age of your niece, it is more than possible that your relationship may
be in a nearer degree of kin,
I understand you, replied Don Antonio’s widow, with something like a moral
tinge of red in her cheek ; you are an accurate chronologist ! There is no garb-
ling facts in defiance of your memory. Well, then! Lucretia is my daughter by
the Marquis of Marialva : it was extremely wrong, but I cannot conceal it from
you. The confession must indeed be a shock to your modesty, said I, after
telling me yourself what pranks you played with the hospital steward at Zamora.
I must tell you moreover that Lucretia is an article of so superior a quality as
to render you a public benefactor by having thrown her into the market. It
were to be wished that the stolen embraces of all your fraternity might be bless-
ed with fruitfulness, if they could secure to themselves a patent for breeding after
your sample, ,
Should any sarcastic reader, comparing this passage with some circumstances
related while I was the marquis’s secretary, suspect me of being entitled to dis-
pute the honours of paternity with that nobleman, I blush to say, that my claims
are entirely out of the question.
I laid open my principal adventures to Laura in my turn, as well as the pre-
sent state of my affairs. She listened with interest, and said: Friend Santil-
lane, you seem to play a principal part on the stage of the world, and I con-
gratulate you most heartily. Should Lucretia be engaged at Madrid, I flatter
myself she will find a powerful protector in Signor de Santillane. Doubt it
not, answered I : your daughter may have her engagement whenever you please ;
I can promise you that, without presuming too much on my interest. I take
you at your word, replied Laura, and would set out to-morrow, were I not un-
der articles to this company. An order from court will cut the knot of any ar-
ticles, rejoined I ; and that I take upon myself: you shall have it within a week.
It is an act of chivalry to rescue Lucretia from Toledo: such a pretty little
actress belongs to the royal court, as parcel of the manor.
Lucretia came into the room just as I was talking of her. The goddess Hebe
herself never looked better in her best days : it was nature in the bud, exhaling
the sweets of her earliest bloom, but promising a more luxuriant waste of trea-
sure. She was just up ; and her natural beauty, without the aid of art, com-
municated the most rapturous sensations, Come, niece, said her mother, thank
LAURA AND LUCRETIA COME TO MADRID. 425
the gentleman for all his kindness to us: he is anold friend of mine, who ranks
high at court, and undertakes to get us both an engagement at the theatre royal.
The little girl seemed to be much pleased, and made me a low curtsey, saying
with an enchanting smile: I most humbly thank you for your obliging inten-
tion ; but, by taking me from a partial audience, are you certain that I shall
not be looked down upon by that of Madrid? I may but lose by the exchange.
I remember hearing my aunt say, that she has seen players most favourably re-
ceived in one town, and hissed off the stage in another ; this absolutely frightens
me ; beware therefore of exposing me to the derision of the court, and yourself
to its reproaches. Lovely Lucretia, answered I, we have neither of us anything
to fear; I am rather apprehensive lest, by the havoc you will make among ~
hearts, you should excite rivalships and kindle discord among the courtiers. My
niece’s fears, said Laura, are better founded than yours ; but I hope they will
both prove vain: however feeble may be Lucretia’s charms of person, her ta- —
lents as an actress are at least above mediocrity.
We continued the conversation for some time: and I could gather, from
Lucretia’s share in it, that she was a girl of superior talents. On taking leave,
I assured them that they should immediately receive a summons to Madrid.
Cu. Il.—Santillane makes his report to the minister, who commissions him to
send for Lucretia. The first appearance of that actress before the court.
ON my return, I found my lord duke impatient to be informed of my success.
Have you seen her? said he: is she worth transplanting? My lord, answered
I, fame, which generally runs beyond all discretion in its report of beauty, has
erred on the side of parsimony in its estimate of the matchless young Lucretia ;
she is all that youthful poets fancy when they feign, for personal attractions,
and all that veteran managers seek when they sign articles, in scenic qualifica-
tions.
Is it possible ? exclaimed the minister with a satisfaction which involuntarily
peeped out at his eyes, and made me think he had some selfish hankerings after
the article of my marketing at Toledo ; is it possible? and is she really so
charming a creature? When you see her, replied I, you will own that any ver-
bal picture of her perfections must be altogether inadequate to their due descrip-
tion. His excellency then requiring a minute account of my journey, I gave
him all the particulars, not excepting Laura’s story, and Lucretia’s parentage.
His lordship was delighted at the latter circumstance, and enjoined me, with a
cordial compliment on my skill in such delicate negociations, to finish as auspi-
ciously as I had begun my undertaking.
I went to look for Carnero, and told him that it was his excellency’s pleasure
he should make out an order for the admission of Estella and Lucretia, actresses
from the Toledo theatre, into his majesty’s company. Say you so, Signor de
Santillane ? answered Carnero with a sarcastic leer ; you shall not be kept long
in suspense, since you take so marked an interest in the fortunes of these two
ladies. He expedited the order in my presence, and within a week the mother
and daughter sent me notice of their arrival. I immediately hastened to their
lodging near the theatre, and after an interchange of thanks on their part, and
assurances of continued support on mine, left them with my best wishes for a
brilliant career of success.
Their names were announced in the bills as two new actresses, engaged by
the special mandate of the court. They made their first appearance in a play,
which they had been accustomed to perform in at Toledo with loud and
unanimous applause.’
Novelty is the very life and soul of theatrical entertainments. The house was
426 GIL BLAS.
uncommonlv crowded, and I of course was among the audience. I was rather
frightened before the curtain drew up. Prejudiced as I was in favour of the
candidates, my alarm was in proportion to my interest. But when once they
were fairly on the boards, the din of welcome quieted all my apprehensions.
Estella was considered as a first-rate actress in comic eres. and seating as a
female Roscius in heroines and love-sick damsels. But the love which she
feigned herself, she really kindled in the hearts of the spectators. Some ad-
mired the beauty of her eyes, others were touched with the plaintive sweetness
of her voice, and all, bowing to the triumph of youth, vivacity, and elegance,
went away in raptures with her person.
My lord duke, who took an uncommon interest in this theatrical event, was at
the play that evening. I saw him leave his box at the end of the piece, with
evident approbation of our new performers. Curious to know whether they
equalled his expectations, I followed him home, and into his closet, saying :
Well, my lord, is your excellency well pleased with little Marialva? My excel-
lency, answered he with a sly smile, must be very difficult to be pleased, not to
confirm the public voice : yes, indeed, my good friend, I am enraptured with
your Lucretia, and firmly believe that the king will not see her without emotion.
Cu. Ill.—Lucretia’s popularity ; her appearance before the king ; his passion,
and its consequences.
GREAT was the noise about the court on this double acquisition to the theatre ;
it became the topic of conversation next day at the king’s levee. The young
Lucretia was most in the mouths of the nobility, who described her so feelingly,
that his majesty could not but imbibe the impression, though he was too politic
to express his interest either in words or by looks.
To make amends for that restraint, he questioned the minister as soon as he
was alone with him, who stated the success of a young actress from Toledo on
the evening before. Her name, added he, is Lucretia ; and it is really a pity
that ladies of her profession should ever have been christened by any less chaste
appellative. She is an acquaintance of Santillane, who spoke so highly of her,
that I thought it right to engage her for your majesty’s company. The king
smiled at the mention of my name, recollecting, perhaps, through what channe
he became acquainted with Catalina, and foreboding a like assistance on the
present occasion. Count, said he to the minister, I mean to see this Lucretia
act to-morrow, and will thank you to let her know it.
I was of course sent with this intelligence to the two actresses. Great news!
said I to Laura, whom I saw first: you will have the sovereign of the Spanish
monarchy among your audience to-morrow, as the minister has desired me to
inform you. I cannot doubt but you will both of you do your best to prove
yourselves worthy of a royal command ; but I would advise you to choose a
piece with music and dancing, that all Lucretia’s accomplishments may be dis-
played at one view. We will take your counsel, answered Laura, and it shall
not be our faults if his majesty is disappointed. That can scarcely happen,
said I, seeing Lucretia come into the room in an undress, which shewed her
person to more advantage than all.the wardrobe of the theatre: he will be the
more delighted with your lovely niece, because dancing and music are his prin-
cipal pleasures: he may even be tempted to throw her the handkerchief. I do
not at all wish, replied Laura, that he should be that way inclined ; all-powerful
monarch as he is, he might not find the accomplishment of his desires so easy.
Lucretia, though brought up behind the scenes, is not without virtuous princi-
ples; whatever pleasure she may take in applause and professional reputation,
THE KINGS PASSION FOR LUCRETIA. 427
she had much rather preserve the character of a good girl, than establish that of
a great actress.
Aunt, said little Marialva, joining in the conversation, why conjure up mon-
sters only to lay them again? I shall never be at a loss to repel the king’s ad-
vances, because his taste is too refined to stoop so low. But, charming Lucretia,
said I, if such a thing should happen, would you be cruel enough to let him
languish like a common lover? hy not? answered she. Setting virtue aside,
my vanity would be more flattered by my own resistance than by the tribute
of his affection. I was not a little surprised to hear a pupil of Laura’s school
talk so properly, and to find that with so free an education she imbibed such
unusual principles of morality.
The king, impatient to see Lucretia, went to the play next evening. The
piece was got up with music and dancing, to shew our young actress off to the
best advantage. My eyes were fixed on his majesty; but he completely eluded
my penetration by an obstinate gravity. On the following day, the minister
said: Santillane, I have just been with the king, who has been talking about
Lucretia, with so much animation, that I doubt not but he is smitten: and, as I
told him that you had sent for her from Toledo, he expressed a wish to confer
with you in private on the subject: orders are given for your admittance; run,
and bring me back an account of what passes.
I flew to the palace, and found the king alone. He was walking up and
down, in much apparent perplexity. He put several questions to me about
Lucretia, made me relate her history, and then asked whether the little jade
had not been tampering with chastity already. I boldly assured him to the
contrary, though such pledges were somewhat hazardous in general ; but mine
was taken, and gave the prince much pleasure. If so, replied he, I select you
for my agent with Lucretia; let her become acquainted with her triumph from
your lips. He then put a box of jewels into my hand, worth fifty thousand
crowns, with a message begging her acceptance of them, and promising more
substantial proofs of his affection.
Before I went on my errand, I reported progress to my lord duke. That
minister, I thought, would be more vexed than rejoiced at it; supposing that he
his own views of gallantry towards Lucretia, and would learn with regret
the rivalship of his master; but I was mistaken. Far from appearing chagrined,
his joy was so excessive, that it would ooze out at his tongue, in words which
were not quite lost on the hearer. ‘‘ Indeed, friend Philip! then I have you in
my clutches: while your pleasures lead you, your business must be left to me!”
This side speech explained to me the plot; an amorous prince, and a long-
headed minister! My orders were to execute my commission as speedily as
possible, with the assurance that the first lord in the land would be proud to
stand in my shoes. Resides, there was no pimp of rank, as in the former case,
to seize the profit and leave the infamy with me; the honour and emolument
were now exclusively my own.
Thus did his excellency relish the ingredients of pandarism to my palate;
and I tasted them with the greediness, but not without the P rptey of an epicure;
for since my imprisonment I had become regenerate, and did not take pride in
dirty work, because my employer washed his hands in perfumed water. But
though conscience was awake, interest was not asleep. I was no longer a villain
for the fun of it; but my compliance would confirm my footing with the minis-
ter, and him it was my duty, at all events, to please.
My first appeal was to Laura in private. I opened the negociation delicately,
and presented my credentials in the form of the jewel-box. The lady was thrown
off her guard by the display. Signor Gil Blas, cried she, you are one of my
oldest friends, and I must not play the hypocrite: straitlaced morals are incon-
428 GIL BLAS.
sistent with the discipline of my sect. Nothing can be more delightful to me
than a conquest, which throws such a game into our hands. But, between our-
selves, I am afraid Lucretia is not so enlightened as we are; though a daughter
of Thalia, she has taken the better-behaved goddesses for her school-mistresses,
and given a rebuff to two young noblemen of amiable manners and large for-
tunes. They were not kings, you will say, and truly we may hope that Lucre-
tia’s virtue will be too undisciplined to stand a royal siege; but you must re-
member the event is hazardous, and I shall not interpose my authority to compel
her. _ If, far from thinking herself honoured by the fleeting passion of the king,
she should revolt from his advances with disdain, let not our illustrious sovereign
be offended at her reserve. But do you come back hither to-morrow, and carry
back either the jewels, or a return of affection.
I had no doubt but Laura would tutor Lucretia in the school of time-servin
morality, and depended much on her instruction. It was therefore no
surprise to find that Laura worked as much against wind and tide to launch her
daughter into the trade-wind of evil, as other maternal pilots to set the sails of
theirs in the contrary monsoon of good; and what is still more unaccountable,
Lucretia, after tasting of royal delights, was so completely surfeited with the
‘banquet as to throw herself at once into the arms of the church, where she pro-
fessed, fell sick, and died of grief. Laura, disconsolate for the loss of her daugh-
ter, and the part she herself acted in the tragedy, retired into a convent of
female penitents, and did penance for the unhallowed pleasures of her former
life. The king was affected by his sudden loss, but soon found comfort in some
other pursuit. The premier talked little on the subject, but thought so much
the more, as the reader will easily believe.
Cu. 1V.—Santillane in a new office.
My feelings were all alive to Lucretia’s ill fate, and my own infamy in having
contributed to it. The royal wants of the lover were no excuse for my taking
the post of cheapener, and I determined to resign the staff of office in that de-
partment, entreating the minister to employ me in some other. , He was charmed
with my nice sense of honour, and promised to comply with my scruples, laying
open his inmost heart in the following speech.
Some years before I was in office, chance threw me across a lady of such
shape and beauty as induced me to trace her home. I learned that she was a
Genoese, by name Donna Margarita Spinola, supporting herself at Madrid on
the income arising from her beauty. It was reported that Don Francisco de Va-
léasar, an officer about the court, a rich man, an old man, and a married man,
laid out his money very freely on this hazardous speculation. These rumours
ought to have deterred me; but they only whetted my desires to share with
Valéasar. To gain my end, I had recourse to a female broker of tenderness,
who adjusted the terms of a private interview with the Genoese; and the price
current being settled, the traffic was frequently repeated ; it was an open market
for my rival and me, or possibly for many other bidders.
Let that be as it may, a choice boy was in the fulness of time produced to
the club, and the mother complimented every member individually in private
with the credit: but we were each of us too modest to acknowledge a bantling
which had so probable a claim upon a better father; so that the Genoese was
compelled to maintain him on the profits of her profession: this she did for
eighteen years, and dying at the end of that period, has left her son without a
farthing, and what is worse, without an idea or an accomplishment,
Such, continued his lordship, is the confidence I meant to repose in you,
and I shall now lay open the great design I have formed, to draw this unfor-
DON GUZMAN ADOPTED BY OLIVAREZ. 429
tunate child from his obscurity, reverse the colour of his fate, raise him to the
highest honours, and acknowledge him as my:son.
At so extravagant a project it was impossible not to be open-mouthed. What,
sir, exclaimed I, can your excellency have adopted so strange a resolution ?
Excuse my freedom; but my zeal cannot restrain itself’ You will be of my
mind, replied he with eagerness, when I shall have explained to you my mo-
tives. I have no mind that my estates should descend in the collateral line.
You will tell me, that I am not so old as to despair of having children by
Madame d’Olivarez. But every one is best judge of his own condition: know
therefore that there is not a receipt in the whole extent of chemistry which I
have not tried, but without effect, to appear once again in the character of a
father. Wherefore, since fortune, stepping in to cover the defects of nature,
presents me with a child whose parent after all I may actually be, he is mine by
adoption ; that is a settled point.
When I found the minister determined, I no longer argued against his resolu-
tion, as knowing him to be a man who would rather do a foolish act of his own,
than adopt a wise suggestion of another. It only remains now, added he, to
educate Don Henry Philip de Guzman; for by that name I intend him to be
known in the world, till the time arrives when he may aspire to higher dignities.
You, my dear Santillane, I have chosen to superintend his conduct: I have full
confidence in your talents and friendship, to regulate his household, direct his
studies, and make him an accomplished gentleman. I would willingly have
declined the office, as never having exercised the craft of a pedagogue, which
required much more genius and solidity than mine; but he shut my mouth by
saying it was his absolute determination that I should be tutor to this adopted
son, whom he designed for the first offices of the monarchy. As a bribe for
my compliance, his lordship increased my little income with a pension of a
thousand crowns ‘on the commandery of Mambra.
Cu. V.—The son of the Genoese is acknowledged by a legal instrument, and
named Don Henry Philip ae Guzman. Santillane establishes his household,
and arranges the course of his studies.
THE act of adoption was soon legalized with the king’s consent and good
pleasure. Don Henry Philip de Guzman, as this descendant from a committee
of fathers was named, became acknowledged successor to the earldom of Oli-
varez and the duchy of San Lucar. The minister, to give the act all possible
publicity, communicated it through Carnero to the ambassadors and grandees
of Spain, who were somewhat startled. The jokers of Madrid were not in-
sensible to the ridicule, and the satirical poets made their harvest of so fine a
subject for their pen.
I asked my lord duke where my pupil was. Here in town, answered he,
with an aunt from whom I shall remove him as soon as you have got a house
ready. This I did immediately, and furnished it magnificently. When my
establishment was complete in servants and officers, his excellency sent for this
equivocal production, this spurious offset from the renowned stock of the Guz-
mans. The lad was tall and personable. Don Henry, said his lordship, point-
ing to me, this gentleman is to be your tutor and introduce you into the world ;
he has my entire confidence, and an unlimited authority over you. After much
good advice, and many compliments to me, the minister retired, and I took Don
Henry home.
As soon as we got thither, I introduced him to his household, and explained
the nature of each individual’s employment. He did not seem at all discon-
certed at the change of circumstances, but received the obeisances of his de-
430 GIL BLAS.
pendants as if he had been a lord by nature, and not by chance. He was not
without mother-wit, but ignorant in a deplorable degree; he could scarcely
read and write. I gave him masters for the Latin grammar, geography, history,
and fencing. A dancing-master of course was not forgotten; but in an affair
of the first consequence, selection was difficult, for there were more eminent
professors of that art in Madrid than of all the languages and sciences put
together.
’ While I was pondering on this difficulty, a man gaudily dressed came into
the court-yard and very forme. I went down, supposing him to be at least
a knight of some military or privileged order. Signor de Santillane, said he,
with a profusion of bows which anticipated his line in life, I am come to offer
you my services as Don Henry’s governor. My name is Martin Ligero, and I
have, thank heaven, some reputation in the world. I have no occasion to can-
vass for scholars; that is all very well for petty dancing-masters! My custom
is to wait till I am sent for; but being a sort of appendage to the house of
Guzman, and having taught its various branches for a long period, I thought it
a point of respect to wait on you first. I perceive, answered I, that you are
just the man we want. What are your terms? Four double pistoles a month,
answered he, and I give but two lessons a week. Four doubloons a month !
cried I, that is an exorbitant price. Exorbitant! rejoined he with astonish-
ment; why, it is not more than eight times as much as you would give to a
mathematical master or a Greek professor.
There was no resisting so ludicrous a comparison of merit; I laughed out-
right, and asked Signor Ligero whether he really thought his talents worth more
than those of the first proficients in learning and science. Most assuredly,
said he; at least, if you measure our He ea by their respective utility.
What sort of machines may those be which are fashioned under their hands ?
Jointless puppets, unlicked cubs, open-mouthed and impenetrable shell-fish ;
but our lessons supple and render pliant the intractable stiffness of their com-
ponent parts, and bring them insensibly into shape: in short, we communicate
to them a graceful motion, a polite address, the carriage of good company, and
the outward marks of elevated rank.
I could not but give way to such cogent arguments in favour of the dancing-
master’s occupation, and engaged him about Don Henry’s person without
haggling as to terms, since those specified were only at the rate established by
the leading professors of the art.
Cu. VI.—Scipio’s return from New Spain. Gil Blas places him about Don
Henry's person. That young nobleman’s course of study. His career of
| honour, and his fathers matrimonial speculation on his behalf. A patent of
nobility conferred on Gil Blas against his will.
I HAD not yet half arranged Don Henry’s household, when Scipio returned from
Mexico. He brought with him three thousand ducats in cash, and merchan-
dise to double the amount. I wish you joy, said 1; the foundation of your for-
tune is laid; and if you prefer a snug berth at Madrid to the risk of going back,
you have only to tell me so. There is no question about that, said the son of
Coselina: a genteel situation at home is far preferable to a second voyage.
After relating the birth and adventures of the little adopted Guzman, and my
own appointment as tutor, I offered him the situation of upper servant to this
babe of chance: Scipio, who could have devised nothing better for himself,
readily accepted the office, and within the small space of three or four days
got the length of his new master’s foot.
I had taken it for granted that that the verb-grinders and concord-manufac-
hss —" iii
A PATENT OF NOBILITY CONFERRED ON GIL BLAS. 431
tures to whom I had given the plant of this Genoese bastard would lose
stock and block, under the idea that he was of an intractable and profitless age ;
but my forebodings were completely reversed. He not only comprehended,
but easily retained the lessons of his masters, and they were very well satisfied
with him. I was in an enormous hurry to greet the ears of my lord duke with
this intelligence, and he received it with abundant joy. Santillane, exclaimed
he with delight, you give me new life by the assurance of Don Henry’s capacity
and application: it runs in the blood of the Guzmans; and I am the more con-
firmed in his being unquestionably my own, because I am just as fond of him
as if Madame d’ Olivarez herself had lain in of the brat in due form under this
very roof. The voice of nature, you perceive, will make itself heard. I thought
it unnecessary to give his lordship any opinion on that subject; but with a deli-
cate deference to his credulity, left him to enjoy his fancied paternity in peace,
whether well or ill founded.
Though all the Guzmans held this clod of newly turned up nobility in utter
scorn, they were politic enough to smooth over the corrugations of their con-
tempt; nay, some of them even affected to languish for his good opinion: the
ambassadors and principal nobility then at Madrid waited on him, with all
the ceremony appertaining to the rank of a legitimate son. ‘The minister, in-
toxicated with the fumes of incense offered to his idol, began to build a temple
worthy of the worship. The cross of Alcantara was the foundation, with a
commandery of ten thousand crowns. The next step was toa high office in
the royal household, and the completion of the whole was matrimony. Wish-
ing to connect him with a family of the first rank, he picked out Donna Johanna
de Velasco, daughter to the Duke of Castile, and had influence enough to
accomplish the alliance, though against the will of the duke and of all his
kindred.
Some days before the nuptial ceremony, his lordship put some papers into
my hand, saying: Here, Gil Blas, is a patent of nobility which I have procured
as the reward of your services. My lord, answered I, in much astonishment,
your excellency knows very well that I am the son of an usher and a duenna: it
would be caricaturing the peerage to confer it on me; and besides, of all the
boons in his majesty’s power to bestow, it is that which I deserve and desire the
least. Your birth, replied the minister, is a slight objection. You have been em-
ployed on affairs of state under the Duke of Lerma’s administration and under
mine: besides, added he with a smile, have you not rendered some things to
Ceesar, which Cesar is bound, on the honour of a prince, to render back in another
shape? To deal candidly, Santillane, you will make just as good a lord as the
best of them; nay, more than that, your high office about my son is incompati-
ble with plebeian rank, and therefore have I procured you to be created. Since
your excellency will have it so, replied I, there is no more to be said. So, say-
ing no more, I put my new-blown honours in my pocket, and walked off.
Now can I make any Joan a lady! said I to myself when I had got into the
street: but it was not the handy-work of my parents that made me a gentle-
man, I may add a foot of honour to my name whenever I please ; and if any
of my acquaintance should snuff or snigger when they call me Don, I may suck
my teeth, lean upon my elbow, and draw out my credentials of heraldry. But
let us see what they contain; and how the corporeal particles, which have
accrued during my artificial contact with the court, are distinguished by genea-
logical metaphysics from the native clay of my original extraction. The instru-
ment ran thus in substance: That the king in acknowledgment of my zeal in
more than one instance for his service and the good of the state, had been gra-
ciously pleased to confer this mark of distinction on me. I may safely say that
the recollection of the act for which I was promoted effectually kept down my
432 GIL BLAS.
pride. Neither did the bashfulness of low birth ever forsake me; so that
nobility to me was like a hair shirt to a penitent: I determined therefore to
lock up the evidences of my shame in a private drawer, instead of blazoning
them to dazzle the eyes of the foolish and corrupt.
Cu. VII.—Ax accidental meeting between Gil Blas and Fabricio. Their last
conversation together, and a word to the wise from Nunez.
THE poet of the Asturias, as the reader, if he thought of him, may have
bss! ex was very negligent in his intercourse with me. It was not to be
expected, that my employments would leave me time to go and look after him.
I not seen him since the critical discussion touching the Iphigenia of Euri-
ides, when chance threw me across him, as he came out of a printing-house.
t accosted him, saying: So! so! Master Nunez, you have got among the
printers: this looks as if we were threatened with some new production.
You may indeed prepare yourselves for such an event, answered he: I have
a pamphlet just ready for publication which is likely to make some noise in the °
literary world, There can be no question about its merit, replied I: but I
cannot conceive why you waste your time in writing pamphlets: it should seem
as if such squibs and rockets were scarcely worth the powder expended in
their manufacture. It is very true, rejoined Fabricio: and I am well aware
that none but the most vulgar gazers are caught by such holiday fire-works :
however, this single one has escaped me, and I must own that it is a child of
necessity. Hunger, as you know, will bring the wolf out of the forest.
What! exclaimed I, is it the author of the ‘* Count of Saldagna” who holds
this language? A man with an annuity of two thousand crowns? Gently, my
friend, interrupted Nunez: I am no longer a pensioned poet. The affairs of
the treasurer Don Bertrand are all at sixes and sevens: he has been at the
gaming table, and played with the public money: an extent has issued, and my
rent-charge is gone posthaste to the devil. That is a sad affair, said 1: but may
not matters come round again in that quarter? No chance of it, answered he:
Signor Gomez del Ribero, in plight as destitute as that of his poor bard, is
sunk for ever; nor can he, as they say, by any possible contrivance be set
afloat again.
In that case, my good friend, replied I, we must look out for some post
which may make you amends for the loss of your annuity. I will ease your con-
science on that score, said he: though you should offer me the wealth of the
Indies as a salary in one of your offices, I would reject the boon: clerkships
are no object to a partner in the firm of the Muses; a literary berth, or absolute
starvation for your humble servant! If you must have it plump, I was born
to live and die a poet, and the man whose destiny is hanging, will never be
drowned,
But do not suppose, continued he, that we are altogether forlorn and destitute:
besides that we accommodate the requisites of independence to our finances,
we do not look far beyond our noses in calculating the average of our fortunes.
It is insinuated that we often dine with the most abstemious orders of the reli-
gious; but our sanctity in this particular is too credulously imputed, There is
not one of my brother wits, without excepting the calculators of almanacs, who
has not a plate laid for him at some substantial table: for my own part, I have
the run of two good houses. To the master of one I have dedicated a romance;
and he is the first commissioner of taxes who was ever associated with the
Muses: the other is a rich tradesman in Madrid, whose lust is to get wits
about him; he is not nice in his choice, and this town furnishes abundance to
those who value wit more by quantity than quality.
OLIVAREZ BEGINS TO LOSE THE KING'S FAVOUR. 433
fe)
Then I no longer feel for you, said I to the poet of the Asturias, since
you are satisfied in your condition. But be that as it may, I assure you once
more, that you have a friend in Gil Blas, however you may slight him: if you
want my purse, come and take it: it will not fail you at a pinch; and you must
not stand between me and my sincere friendship. .
By that burst of sentiment, exclaimed Nunez, I know and thank my friend
Santillane: in return, let me give you a salutary caution. While my lord duke
is in his meridian, and you are all in all with him, reap, bind, and gather in
your harvest: when the sun sets, the gleaners are sent home. I asked Fabricio
whether his suspicions were surely founded; and he returned me this answer.
My information comes from an old knight of Calatrava, who pokes his nose
into secrets of all sorts; his authority passes current at Madrid, much as that
of the Pythian newsmongers did through Greece; and thus his oracle was pro-
nounced in my hearing: My lord duke has a host of enemies in battle-array
against him ; he reckons too securely upon his influence with the king ; for his
majesty, as the report goes, begins to take in hostile representations with
patience. I thanked Nunez for his friendly warning, but without much faith
in his prediction: my master’s authority seemed rooted in the court, like the
tempest-scoffing firmness of an oak in the native soil of the forest.
Cu. VIIL.—Gi Blas finds that Fabricio’s hint was not without foundation. The
king’s journey to Saragossa.
THE poet of the Asturias was no bad politician. There was a court plot against
the duke, with the queen at the bottom; but their plans were too deeply laid
to bubble at the surface. During the space of a whole year, my simplicity was
insensible to the brewing of the tempest.
The revolt of the Catalans, with France at their back, and the ill success of
the war for their suppression, excited the murmurs of the people, and whetted
their tongues against government. A council was held in the royal presence,
and the Marquis de Grana, the emperor’s ambassador, was specially requested
to assist. The subject in debate was whether the king should remain in Cas-
tile, or go and take the command of his troops in Arragon. The minister
spoke first, and gave it as his opinion that his majesty should not quit the seat
of government. All the members supported his arguments, with the exception
of the Marquis de Grana, whose whole heart was with the house of Austria, and
the sentiments of his soul on the tip of his tongue, after the homely honesty of
his nation, He argued so forcibly against the minister, that the king em-
braced his opinion from conviction, though contrary to the vote of council, and
fixed the day when he would set out for the army.
This was the first time that ever the sovereign had differed from his favourite,
and the latter considered it as an inexpiable affront. Just as the minister was
withdrawing to his closet, there to bite upon the bridle, he espied me, called
me in, and told me with much discomposure what had passed in debate: Yes,
Santillane, observed he, the king, who for the last twenty years has spoken only
through my mouth, and seen with my eyes, is now to be wheedled over by
Grana ; and that on the score of zeal for the house of Austria, as if that German
had a more Austrian soul in his body than myself.
Hence it is easy to perceive, continued the minister, that there is a strong
party against me, with the queen at the head. Heaven forbid it, said I. Has
not the queen for upwards of twelve years been accustomed to your paramount
authority, and have you not taught the king the knack of not consulting her?
The desire of making a campaign may for once have enlisted his majesty on
the side of the Marquis de Grana. Say, rather that the king, argued my lord
434 GIL BLAS.
duke, will be surrounded by his principal officers when in camp; and then the
disaffected will find their opportunity for poisoning him against my administra-
tion. But they overreach themselves ; for I shall completely insulate the prince
from all their approaches; and so he did, in a manner which, for example,
deserves not to be passed over.
The day of the king’s departure being ‘arrived, the monarch, leaving the
queen regent, proceeded for Saragossa by way of Aranjuez; a delightful resi-
dence, where he whiled away three weeks. Cuenca was the next stage, where
the minister detained him still longer by a succession of amusements. <A hunt-
ing party was contrived at Molina in Arragon, and hence there was no choice
of road but to Saragossa. The army was near at hand, and the king was “
paring to review it: but his keeper sickened him of the project, by making him
believe that he would be taken by the French, who were in force in the neigh-
bourhood; so that he was cowed by a groundless apprehension, and consented
to be a prisoner in his own court. The minister, from an affectionate regard
to his safety, secluded him from all approach: so that the principal nobility,
who had equipped themselves at enormous charges to be about his n,
could not even procure an occasional audience. Philip, weary of bad lodgings
and worse recreation at Saragossa, and perhaps feeling himself scarcely his own
master, soon returned to Madrid. Thus ended the royal campaign, and the
care of maintaining the honour of the Spanish colours was left to the Marquis
de los Velez, commander-in-chief.
Cu. IX.— The revolution of Portugal, and disgrace of the prime minister, ”
A FEW days after the king’s return, an alarming report prevailed at Madrid,
that the Portuguese, considering the Catalan revoltas an opportunity offered them
by fortune for throwing off the Spanish yoke, had taken arms, and chosen the
Duke of Braganza for their king, with a full determination of supporting him on
the throne. In this they conceived that they did not reckon without their host ;
because Spain was then embroiled in Germany, Italy, Flanders, and Catalonia.
They could not in fact have hit upon a crisis more favourable for their deliver-
ance from so galling a yoke.
It was a strange circumstance, that while both court and city were struck with
consternation at the news, my lord duke attempted to joke with the king, and
make the Duke of Braganza his butt ; Philip, however, far from falling in with
this ill-timed pleasantry, assumed a serious air, of ill omen to the minister, who
felt his seat to totter under him. The queen was now his declared enemy, and
openly accused him of having caused the revolt of Portugal by his misconduct.
The nobility in general, and especially those who had been at Saragossa, when
they saw a deat gathering about the minister, joined the queen’s party :* but
the decisive blow was the return of the duchess dowager of Mantua from her
government of Portugal to Madrid ; for she proved clearly to the king’s convic-
tion that the counsels of his own cabinet produced the revolution.
His majesty, deeply impressed with what he had heard, was now completely
recovered from every symptom of partiality towards his favourite. The minister,
finding that his enemies were in possession of the royal ear, wrote for permission
to resign his employments, and retire from court, since all the political mis-
chances of the time were ascribed to his personal delinquency. e expected a
letter like this to produce a wonderful effect, reckoning as he did upon the
* At length his sovereign frowns—the train of state
Mark the keen glance, and watch the sign to hate.
Fohnson’s Imitation of Fuvenal’s Tenth Satire.
OLIVAREZ RETIRES INTO THE COUNTRY. 435
prince’s private friendship, which could scarcely brook a separation: but his
majesty’s answer undeceived him, by laconically complying with his ostensible
wish to withdraw.
Such a sentence of banishment in the king’s own hand-writing came like a
thunder-storm in harvest ; but though destruction to his long-cherished hopes,
he affected the serene look of constancy, and asked me what I would do in his
circumstances. I would drive before the wind, said I; renounce the un-
_ aeyped court, and pass the remainder of my days in peace on my own estate.
ou counsel wisely, replied my master, and I shall set out for Loeches, there
to finish my career, after one more interview with his majesty : for I could wish
just to convince him that I have done what man can do to support the heavy
load of state upon my shoulders, and that it was not within the compass of
possibility to prevent the unfortunate events which are imputed to meas a crime.
It were equally reasonable to charge the pilot withthe wrecking fury of thestorm,
and make him answerable for the uncontrolled power of the elements. Thus
did the minister inwardly flatter himself that he could set things to rights again,
and once more fix firm the seat which was shaking under him ; but he could
not procure an audience, and was even commanded to resign his key of private
admission into his majesty’s closet.
This last requisition convinced him that there was no hope ; and he now made
up his mind in earnest for retirement. He looked over his papers, and had
the prudence to burn a good number, he then selected a small household for his
retreat, and publicly announced his departure for the next day. Apprehending
insult from the mob, if the time and manner of his setting out were public, he
escaped early in the morning through the kitchens out at the back door, got in-
to a shabby, hired carriage, with his confessor and me, and reached in safety
the road leading to Loeches, a village on his own estate, where his countess had
founded a magnificent convent of Dominican nuns,
Cu, X.—A difficult, but successful, weaning from the world, The minister's
employments in his retreat.
MADAME D’OLIVAREz stayed behind her husband some few days, with the in-
tention of trying what her tears and entreaties might do towards his recall ; but
in vain did she prostrate herself before their majesties : the king paid not the
least attention to her pleadings and remonstrances, though artfully adapted for
effect ; and the queen, who hated her mortally, took a savage pleasure in her
tears. The minister’s lady, however, was not easily discouraged : she stooped
so low as to solicit their good offices from the ladies of the bed-chamber ; but
the fruit of all this meanness was only the sad conviction that it excited more
contempt than pity. Heart-broken at having degraded herself by supplications
so humiliating, and yet so unavailing, she departed to her husband, and mourned
with him the loss of a situation, which under a reign like that of Philip the
Fourth, was little short of sovereign power.
The accounts her ladyship brought from Madrid were wormwood to the duke.
Your enemies, said she, sobbing, with the Duke of Medina Celi at their head,
are loud in the king’s praises for your removal ; and the people triumph in your
disgrace with an insolent joy, as if the cloud of adversity were to be dispelled
by the breath which dissolved your administration, Madam, said my master,
follow my example ; suppress your discontent : we must drive before the storm,
when we cannot weather it. I did think, indeed, that my favour would only
be eclipsed with the lamp of life : a common illusion of ministers and favourites,
who forget that they breathe but at the good pleasure of their sovereign. Was
436 GIL BLAS.
not the Duke of Lerma as much mistaken as myself, though fondly relying on
his purple, as a pledge for the lasting tenure of his prreiege: ?
Thus did my lord duke preach patience to the partner of his cares, while his
own bosom heaved under the direst pressure of anxiety. The frequent dis-
patches from Don Henry, who was staying about the court to pick up informa-
tion, kept him continually on the fret. Scipio was the messenger ; for he was
still about the person of that young nobleman, though I had relinquished my
post on his marriage. Sometimes we heard of changes in the inferior depart-
ments of office, solely for the purpose of wreaking vengeance on his creatures,
and filling up the vacancies with his enemies. Then Don Lewis de Haro was
represented as advancing in favour, and likely to be made prime minister. But
the most mortifying circumstance of all was the change in the viceroyalty of
Naples, which was taken from his friend, the Duke de Medina de las Torres,
and bestowed on the High Admiral of Castile, who was his bitterest enemy. For
this there was no other motive but the pleasure of giving pain toa fallen favourite.
For the first three months, his lordship gave himself up in his solitude a prey
to disappointment and regret : but his confessor, a holy and pious Dominican,
supporting his religious zeal with manly eloquence, succeeded in pouring the
balm of consolation into his soul. By continually representing to him, with
apostolic energy, that his eternal salvation was now the only object worth his
care, he weaned him gradually from the uses of this world. His excellency was
no longer panting for news from Madrid, but learning a new and important les-
son, how to die. Madame d’Olivarez too, making a virtue of necessity, sought
refuge for herself in the maternal guardianship of her convent, where Providence
had reared up, for her edification in faith and good works, a sisterhood of holy
maidens, whose spiritual discourses fed her soul, as if with manna in the wilder-
ness. My master’s peace within his own bosom advanced, as he withdrew more
backward from sublunary things. The employment of his day was thus laid
out : almost the whole morning was devoted to religious duties, till dinner-time ;
and after dinner, for about two hours, he played at different games with me and
some of his confidential domestics : he then generally retired alone into his
closet till sunset, when he walked round his garden, or rode out into the neigh-
bourhood either with his confessor or me.
One day when I was alone with him, and was particularly struck with his
apparent self-complacency, I took the liberty of congratulating his lordship on
his complete reconciliation to retirement. Use, however late acquired, is second
nature, answered he: for though I haveall my life been accustomed to the
bustle of business, I assure you that I become every day more and more attached
to this calm and peaceful mode of lifé.
Cu. XI.—A change in his lordship for the worse. The marvellous cause, and
melancholy consequences, of his dejection.
His excellency sometimes amused himself with gardening, by way of variety.
One day as I was watching his progress, he said jokingly : You see, Santillane,
a fallen minister can turn gardener at last. Nature will prevail, my lord, an-
swered I. You plant and water something useful at Loeches, while Dionysius
of Syracuse whipped school-boys at Corinth. My master was not displeased
either with the comparison or the compliment.
We were all ris Wate at the castle to see our protector, rising above the cloud
of adversity, take pleasure in so novel a mode of life: but we soon perceived
an alarming change. He became gloomy, thoughtful, and melancholy. Our
parties at play were all given up, and no efforts could succeed to divert his mind.
From dinner-time till evening he never lef his closet. We thought the dreams
DEATH OF OLIVAREZ. 437
of vanished greatness had returned to break his rest ; and in this opinion the
reverend Dominican gave the rein to his eloquence ; but it could not outstrip
the course of that hypochondriac malady, which triumphed over all opposition.
It seemed to me there was some deeper cause, which it behoved a sincere
friend to fathom. Taking advantage of our being alone together, My lord, said
I, in a tone of mingled respect and affection, whence is it that you are no longer
so cheerful as heretofore? Has your philosophy lost ground? or has the world
recovered its allurements? Surely you would not plunge again into that gulf,
where your virtue must inevitably be shipwrecked! No, heaven be praised !
replied the minister : my part at court has long faded from my memory, and its
trappings from my eyes. Indeed! why then, resumed I, since you have strength
enough to banish false regrets, are you so weak as to indulge a melancholy
which alarms us all ? What is the matter with you, my dear master? continued
I, falling at his knees: some secret sorrow preys upon you: can you hide it
from Santillane, whose zeal, discretion, and fidelity you have so often expe-
rienced ? Why am I so unhappy as to have lost your confidence ?
You still possess it, said his lordship: but I must own, it is reluctantly that I
shall reveal the subject of my distress : yet the importunities of such a friend are
irresistible. ‘To no one else could I impart so singular a confidence. Yes, Iam
the prey of a morbid melancholy which eats inwardly into my vitals : a spectre
haunts me every moment, arrayed in the most terrific form of preternatural hor-
ror. In vain have I argued with myself that it is a vision of the brain, an un-
real mockery : its continual presentments blast my sight, and unseat my reason.
Though my understanding teaches me, that in looking on this spectre I stare at
vacancy, my spirits are too weak to derive comfort from the conviction. Thus
much have you extorted from me: now judge whether the cause of my melan-
choly is fit to be divulged.
With equal grief and astonishment did I listen to the strange confession,
which implied a total derangement of the nervous system. ‘This, my lord, said
I, must proceed from injudicious abstinence. So I thought at first, answered
he ; and to try the experiment, I have been eating more than usual for some
days past ; but it is all to no purpose, the phantom takes his stand as usual. It
will vanish, said I, if your excellency will only divert your mind by your accus-
tomed relaxations with your household. Company and gentle occupation are
the best remedies for these affections of the spirits,
In a short time after this conversation, his lordship became seriously indisposed,
and sent for two notaries from Madrid, to make his will. Three capital physi-
cians followed in their track, who had the reputation of curing their patients
now and then. As soon as it was noised about the castle that these last under-
takers were arrived, the case was given up for lost ; weeping and gnashing of
teeth took place universally, and the family mourning was ordered. They
brought with them their usual understrappers, an apothecary and a surgeon. *
The notaries were suffered to earn their fee first, after which death’s notaries
prepared to take a bond of the patient. They practised in the school of San-
grado, and from their very first consultation, ordered bleeding so frequently and
freely, that in six days they brought his lordship to the point of death, and on
the seventh delivered him from the terror of his sprite.
4 Behind him sneaks
Another mortal, not unlike himself,
Of jargon full, with terms obscure o’ercharged,
Apothecary call’d, whose foetid hands
With power mechanic, and with charms arcane,
Apollo, god of medicine, has endued.—BRAMSTON,
438 GIL BLAS.
- After the minister’s decease, a lively and sincere sorrow reigned in the castle
of Loeches. The whole household wept bitterly. Far from deriving consola-
tion from the certainty of being remembered in his will, there was not a de-
pendent who would not willingly have saved his life by the sacrifice of the
legacy. As.for me, whom he most delighted in, attached to him asI was from
disinterested friendship, my grief was more acute than that of the rest. I ques-
tion whether Antonia cost me more tears.
‘Cu, XII. — The proceedings at the Castle of Loeches after his lordshi~’s death, and
i ' the course which Santillane adopted.
THE minister, according to his last injunctions, was buried without pomp and
without procession in the convent, with a dirge of our lamentations. After the
funeral, Madame d’Olivarez called us together to hear the will read, with which
the household had good reason to be satisfied. Every one had a legacy pro-
portioned to his claim, and none less than two thousand crowns: mine was the
largest, amounting to ten thousand pistoles, as a mark of his singular regard.
The hospitals were not forgotten, and provision was made for an annual com-
memoration in several convents.
Madame d’Olivarez sent all the household to Madrid to receive their legacies
from Don Raymond Caporis, who had orders to pay them; but I could not be
of the party, in consequence of a violent fever from distress of mind, which con-
fined me to the castle for more than a week. During that time, the reverend
Dominican paid me all possible attention. He had conceived a friendship for
me, which was not confined to my worldly interests, and was anxious to know
how I meant to dispose of myself on my recovery. I answered that I had not
yet made up my mind upon the subject: there were moments when my feelings
strongly prompted towards a religious vow. Precious moments! exclaimed
the Dominican, you will do well to profit by them. I advise you as a friend to
retire to our convent at Madrid, for example; there to become a pious bene-
factor by the free gift of your whole fortune, and to die in the livery of Saint
Dominic. Many very questionable Christians have made amends for a life of
sin by so holy an end.
In the actual disposition of my mind, this advice was not unpalatable; and I
promised to reflect upon it. But on consulting Scipio, who came to see me im-
mediately after the monk, he treated the very notion as the phantom of a dis-
tempered brain, For shame! said he; does not your estate at Lirias offer a
more eligible seclusion? If you were delighted with it formerly, the charm will
be increased tenfold, now that the lapse of years has moderated your sense of
pleasure, and softened down your taste to the simple beauties of nature.
It was no difficult matter to operate a change in my inclinations. My friend,
said I, you carry it-decidedly against the advocate of Saint Dominic. We will
go back to Lirias as soon as I am well enough to travel. This happened
shortly ; for as the fever subsided, I soon felt myself sufficiently strong to put
my design in execution. We went first to Madrid. The sight of that city
gave me far other sensations than heretofore. As I knew that almost its whole
population held in horror the memory of a minister, of whom I cherished the
most affectionate remembrance, I could not feel at my ease within its precincts.
My stay was therefore limited to five or six days, while Scipio was making the
necessary arrangements for our rustication. In the mean time, I waited on Ca-
poris, and received my legacy in ready money. I likewise made my arrange-
ments with the receivers for the regular remittance of my pensions, and settled
all my affairs in due order.
The evening before our departure, I asked the son of Coselina whether he
GIL BLAS RETURNS TO LIRIAS. 439
had received his farewell from Don Henry. Yes, answered he, we took leave
of each other this morning with mutual civility; he went so far as to express
his regret that I should quit him; but however well satisfied he might be with
me, I am by no means so with him. Mutual content is like a river, which must
_have its banks on either side. Besides, Don Henry makes but a pitiful figure
at court now; he has fallen into utter contempt; people point at him with their
finger in the streets, and call him a Genoese bastard. Judge, then, for yourself,
whether it is consistent with my character to keep up the connection.
We left Madrid one morning at sunrise, and went for Cuenga. The follow-
ing was the order of our equipment ; we two in a chaise and pair, three mules,
laden with baggage and money, led by two grooms and two stout footmen, well
armed, in the rear; the grooms wore sabres, and the postilion had a pair of
pistols in his holsters. As we were seven men in all, and six of us determined
fellows, I took the road gaily, without trembling for my legacy. In the villages
through which we passed our mules chimed their bells merrily, and the peasants
ran to their doors to see us pass, supposing it to be at least the parade of some
nobleman going to take possession of some viceroyalty.
Cu. XII.—T7he return of Gil Blas to his seat. His joy at finding his god-daugh-
ter Seraphina marriageable ; and his own second venture in the lottery of love.
WE were a fortnight on our journey to Lirias, having no occasion to make rapid
stages. The sight of my own domain brought melancholy thoughts into my
mind, with the image of my lost Antonia ; but better topics of reflection came
to my aid, with a full purpose to look at things on the brighter side, and the
lapse of two-and-twenty years, which had gradually impaired the force of tender
regret.
a soon as.I entered the castle, Beatrice and her daughter greeted me most
cordially, while the family scene was interesting in the extreme. When their
mutual transports were over, I looked earnestly at my god-daughter, saying :
Can this be the Seraphina whom I left in her cradle? how tall and pretty ! we
must make a good match for her. What! my dear god-father, cried my little
girl with an enchanting blush, you have but just seen me, and do you want to
get rid of me at once! No, my lovely child, replied I, we hope not to lose you
by marriage, but to find a husband for you in the neighbourhood.
There is one ready to your hands, said Beatrice. Seraphina madea conquest
one day at mass. Her suitor has declared his passion, and asked my consent.
I told him that his acceptance depended on her father and her god-father ; and
here you are to determine for yourselves.
_ What is the character of this village lordling? said Scipio. Is he not, like
his fellows, the little tyrant of the soil, and insolent to those who have no pedi-
gree to boast? The furthest from it in the world, answered Beatrice ; the young
man is gentle in his temper and polished in his manners ; handsome withal, and
somewhat under thirty. You paint him in flattering colours, said I to Beatrice ;
what is his name? Don Juan de Jutella, replied Scipio’s wife: it is not lon
since he came to his inheritance : he lives on his own estate, about a mile off
with a younger sister, of whom he takes care. I once knew something of his
family, observed I ; it is one of the best in Valencia. I care less for lineage,
cried Scipio, than for the qualities of the heart and mind; this Don Juan will
exactly suit us, if he is a good sort of man. He is belied else, said Seraphina,
with a blushing interest in our conversation ; the inhabitants of Lirias, who
know him well, say all the good of him you can conceive. I smiled at this ;
and her father, not less quick-sighted, saw plainly that her heart hada share in
the testimony of her tongue.
440 GIL BLAS.
The gentleman soon heard of our arrival, and paid his respects to us within’
two days. His address was pleasing and manly, so as to prepossess us in his
favour. He affected merely to welcome us home as a neighbour. Our re-
ception was such as not to discourage the repetition of his visit ; but not a word
of Seraphina! When he was gone, Beatrice asked us how we liked him. We
could have no objection to make, and gave it as our opinion that Seraphina
could not dispose of herself better.
The next day, Scipio and I returned the visit. We took a guide, and
luckily ; for otherwise it might have puzzled us to find the place. It was not
till our actual arrival that it was visible; for the mansion was situated at the
foot of a mountain, in the middle of a wood, whose lofty trees hid it from
our view. There was an antique and ruinous appearance about it, which
spoke more for the descent than the wealth of its proprietor. On our entrance,
however, the elegance of the interior arrangement made amends for the dilapi-
dated grandeur of the outer walls.
Don Juan received us in a handsome room, where he introduced his sister
Dorothea, a lady between nineteen and twenty years of age. She was a good
deal tricked out, as if she had primed and loaded herself for conquest, in ex-
pectation of our visit. Thus presenting all her charms in full force, she did by
me much as Antonia had done before; but I managed my raptures so discreetly,
that even Scipio had no suspicion. Our conversation turned, as on the preced-
ing day, on the mutual pleasure of good neighbourhood. Still he did not open
on the subject of Seraphina, nor did we attempt to draw him out. During our
interview, I often cast a side glance at Dorothea, though with all the reserve of
delicate apprehension ; whenever our eyes met, the citadel of my heart was
ready to surrender. To describe the object of my love justly, as well as feel-
ingly, her beauty was not of the most perfect kind: her skin was of a dazzling
whiteness, and her lips united the colour with the fragrance of the rose; but her
features were not so regular and well-proportioned as might have been wished :
yet, altogether, she won my heart.
In short, I left the mansion of Jutella a different man from what I was on
entering it: so that, returning to Lirias with my whole soul absorbed in Doro-
thea, I saw and spoke only of her. How is this, master? said Scipio with a
look of astonishment: you seem to be very much taken with Don Juan’s
sister! Can you be in love with her? Yes, my friend, answered I: to my
shame be it spoken. Since the death of Antonia, how many lovely females
have passed in review before me with indifference: and must my passions
be irresistibly kindled at this time of life? Indeed, sir, replied the son of
Coselina, you may bless your stars, instead of squabbling with yourself: you
are not so old as to make your sacrifice at the shrine of love a by-word;
and time has not yet ploughed such furrows on your brow, as to render hope-
less the desire of pleasing. When you see Don Juan next, ask him boldly for
his sister: he cannot refuse her to you; and besides, if his views in her settle-
ment are ambitious, how can he do better? You havea patent of nobility in
your pocket, and upon that your posterity may ride easy; after five generations,
when pedigree herself shall be lost in the confusion of her materials, it may
exercise the diligence of learned inquiry, to trace the family of the Santillanes
to the beginning of its archives, and consecrate the fame of its founder by the
indistinctness of his story.
Cu. XIV.—A double marriage, and the conclusion of the history.
By this discourse, Scipio encouraged me to declare myself, without considering
how he exposed me to the danger of a refusal. My own resolution was taken
A DOUBLE MARRIAGE AGREED ON. 441
with fear and trembling. Though I carried my years well, and might have
sunk at least ten, it did not seem unlikely that a young beauty might turn up
her nose at the disparity. I determined, however, to bolt the question the
first time I saw her brother, who was not without his trepidations on the subject
of my god-daughter.
He returned my call the next morning, just as I had done dressing. Signor
‘de Santillane, said he, I wish to speak with you on some serious business. I
took him into my closet, where entering on the subject at once, I imagine, con-
tinued he, that you are not unacquainted with the purpose of my visit: I love
Seraphina ; you are all in all with her father ; I must request you therefore to
intercede and procure for me the accomplishment of my heart’s desire: then
shall I have to thank you for the prime bliss of my existence. Signor Don
Juan, answered I, as you come to the point at once, you can have no objection
to my following your example: My good offices are fully at your service, and
I shall hope for yours with your sister in return.
Don Juan was agreeably surprised. Can it be possible, exclaimed he, that
Dorothea should have made a conquest of your heart since yesterday? It is
even so, said I, and it would make me the happiest of men, if the proposal
should meet with your joint approbation. You may rely on that, replied he ;
though with some pretensions to family pride, yours is not an alliance to be
despised. You flatter me highly, rejoined I ; that youare not mealy-mouthed
about receiving a commoner into your pedigree, is a mark of good sense ; but
even if nobility had been a necessary ingredient in your sister’s requisites for
a husband, we should not have quarrelled on that account. I have worked
out twenty years in the trammels of office; and the king, as a reward of my
long labours, has granted me a patent of nobility. This high-minded gentle-
man read my credentials over with extreme satisfaction, and returning them,
told me that Dorothea wasmine. And Seraphina yours, exclaimed I.
Thus were the two marriages agreed on between us. The consent of the
intended brides was all that remained ; for we neither of us presumed to con-
trol the inclinations of our wards. My friend therefore carried home my pro-
posal to his sister, and I called Scipio, Beatrice, and my god-daughter together,
for the purpose of laying open a similar project. Beatrice voted loudly for im-
mediate acceptance, and Seraphina silently. The father did not say much
against it ; but boggled a little at the fortune he must give to a gentleman whose
seat required such immediate and extensive repairs. I stopped Scipio’s mouth
by telling him that was my concern, and that I should contribute four thousand
pistoles to the architect’s estimate.
In the evening, Don Juan came again. Your business is going swimmingly,
said I ; pray heaven mine may promise as fairly. Better it cannot, answered
he; my influence was quite unnecessary to prevail with Dorothea ; your person
had made its impression, and your manners pleased her. You were afraid she
might not like you ; while she, with more reason, having nothing to offer you
but her heart and hand . . . . What would she offer more? interrupted I, out
of my wits with joy. Since the lovely Dorothea can think of me without repug-
nance, I ask no more: my fortune is ample, and the possession of her is the
only dowry I should value.
Don Juan and myself, highly delighted at having brought our views to bear
so soon, were for hastening our nuptials, and cutting off all superfluous cere-
monies. I closeted the gentleman with Seraphina’s parents ; the settlements
were soon agreed on, and he took his leave, promising to return next day with
Dorothea. My eager desire of appearing agreeable in that lady’s eyes, oc-
casioned me to spend three hours at least in adjusting my dress, and com-
municating the air of a lover to my person ; but I could not do it so much to
29
—
gs: "
442 et GIL BLAS.
my mind as in my younger days. The preparations for courtship are a pleasure
to a young man, but a serious business and hazardous speculation to one who
is beginning to be oldish. And yet it turned out better than my hopes or
deserts ; for Don Juan’s sister received me so graciously, as to put me in good
humour with myself. I was charmed with the turn of her mind ; and fore-
boded that with discreet management and much deference, I might really get
her to like me as well as anybody else. Full of this sweet hope I sent for the
lawyers to draw up the two contracts, and for the clergyman of Paterna, to
bring us better acquainted with our mistresses.
Thus did I light the torch of Hymen for the second time, and it did not burn
blue with the brimstone of repentance. Dorothea, like a virtuous wife, made a
pleasure of her duty ; in gratitude for the pains I took to anticipate all her
wishes, she soon loved me as well as if I had been younger. Don Juan and my
god-daughter were most enthusiastic in their mutual ardour ; and what was
most unprecedented of all, the two sisters-in-law loved one another sincerely.
Don Juan was a man in whom all good qualities met : my esteem for him in-
creased daily, and he did not repay it with ingratitude. In short, we were a
happy and united family: we could scarcely bear the interval of separation
between evening and morning. Our time was divided between Lirias and
Jutella : his excellency’s pistoles made the old battlements to raise their heads
again, and the castle to resume its lordly port.
For these three years, reader, I have led a life of unmixed bliss in this beloved
society. To perfect my satisfaction, heaven has deigned to send me two smiling
babes, whose education will be the amusement 2 my declining years ; and if
ever husband might venture to hazard so bold an hypothesis, I devoutly believe
myself their father. f
THE END.
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
LONDON AND BECCLES.
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